Legend of the Lost Princess
by Frozen789
Summary: The cycle has been shattered as the Spirit of the Hero falls, corrupted by the darkness he was destined to overthrow. Hyrule's hopes fall to the Blood of the Goddess, which flows in the veins of a peasant girl. Zelda embarks on a journey that will change her forever...and bring her into conflict with the fallen Hero. (on hiatus)
1. Foreword

Foreword

Read on and enjoy and please leave a review, even negative ones can help.

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-_Frozen789_


	2. Chapter 1-Becoming Zelda

Chapter 1- Becoming Zelda

_My eyes flashed opened. To my great surprise, instead of lying in a snow bank, I'm standing in a room with walls and columns made of the whitest stone I've ever seen. My eyes roamed the room, from the ceiling and down to the floor; its pure white, with no engraved markings in the stone. As my eyes skirt the floor, they travel to my dress, except it's not my torn navy-blue traveling dress I'd been wearing._

_It's gone; instead I'm wearing a midnight blue dressing gown, which starts at my neckline, with sleeves that cover my arms all the way down to my hands. The room is_ empty,_ except for a single middle-aged woman with shoulder-length golden blonde hair, exactly the same shade as mine and wearing a similar white gown. She turned and looked at me, and gave me a smile that reminded me of my mother. She walked towards me, her footsteps softly resounding off the empty room. She came within a few feet of me, stopped, and took both my hands in hers. After staring awkwardly at each other for a few moments, I finally managed to utter out, "Who are you?" _

_"Mara Zelda Nohansen Daphnes," she said in the sweetest voice I've ever heard. "The time has come for to take up the mantle of your ancestors and assume your true identity."_

_"How do you know my name? And what do you mean by my true identity?" I asked, thoroughly confused. _

_My ancestors had lived in the village of Mordon ever since the beginning of Hyrule, as my parents had always told me. It was at this point that I noticed that she had blue eyes (exactly the same shade of mine) that seemed to put me at ease._

_"You will find out with time," she said. "My name is Hylia, or more properly Zelda, the one who descended from the Sky and the first Queen of Hyrule." _

_Suddenly another woman, this one looking older and more mature than Hylia appeared behind her. She was as pretty, and had on a dark blue dress, with a unique symbol on the front of it. As my eyes took in the newcomer, they alighted to the symbol on the hem of her dress. It had three half circles with three smaller complete circles within them, arranged in a unique pattern. My brain processed it for a moment before it came up with a match. But before I could speak, she introduced herself._

_"And my name is Nayru, dear Princess, the Goddess of Wisdom, one of the three Golden Goddesses who created this land."_

_I started to bow to her, breaking the grip Zelda had on my hands, but Nayru moved forward and grabbed me, interrupting me mid-bow. I rose back to my full height._

_"No need to bow to me Zelda," Nayru said, addressing me by my middle name_

_Not having received any answers yet, I swallowed my questions and let her continue._

_"I treat all good beings as equals. Evil is once again threatening the land of Hyrule. Zelda, inheritor of the divine wisdom I entrusted to your ancestors, the time has come for you to save Hyrule like your ancestors of old."_

_"Who were they?" I asked. "Wait, where are you going?"_  
_Both of them were starting to fade before my very eyes. _

_"Wait!"_

_"Zelda, remember these words we have spoken to you..." echoed from out of the darkness. _

_But they had disappeared and I felt myself sliding into darkness..._

Soft voices slowly began to work their way into my brain. My mind was very groggy, so it took awhile for them to come into focus enough so I could hear them.

"Do you think she's going to make it?" a girlish voice said.

"I don't know sweetheart, who knows how long she'd been there. Hopefully the Goddesses will have mercy and spare her life," said another.

I lay there with my eyes closed, listening. My body ached all over, especially my head; it was literally screaming at me. My body didn't want to move, wanting to lay there forever. But I stirred and moved a bit. It immediately elicited excited reactions from the voices.

"Mom! She's waking up!" I heard someone scream.

"Yes dear, there's no need to scream."

I would've jumped in complete surprise if my body hadn't been so weak. I forced my eyelids open and a face gradually came into view. I rubbed them to help them clear up. The face was that of a young woman, with brown hair, brown eyes, and wearing a red velvet dress with two 'L's' and an 'R' embroidered the on her blouse.

"Good morning," she said in a cheerful tone.

I didn't respond. I took in the room; it was like I was in a log cabin. The room alone was the size of the tiny cabin I had shared with four siblings! The room was almost completely bare of all furnishings except a bookcase to my left full of books, a nightstand to the right of bed, and the bed itself. The brown-haired girl was sitting on the foot of the bed, while another, middle-aged woman, who I took was her mother, was busy mixing together some ingredients in a kettle. She seemed to have finished, because she turned and came to where her daughter was sitting on the edge of my bed with a metal trey that had a blue kettle and two white glass cups on it.

Now that she sat close to me, I could see that she resembled her mother in every aspect except for her hair. Her mother had dark black hair compared to her daughter. She too was wearing a red dress embroidered with two 'L's' and a 'R'.

"Ooh," I moaned, gripping my head.

The older woman came over to my bed

"Well, glad to see you finally woke up my dear," she said.

I still don't reply.

"We thought we'd had lost you but you started coming around early this morning."

She poured a steaming brown liquid into one of the cups and held to my lips for me to drink. I thought it best to accept whatever it was without complaint. When it touched my tongue, I gagged briefly, but forced it down. Warmth spread throughout my body, starting at my head and trickling down my body to my fingers and my toes. Energy flowed back into my exhausted limbs, but I still felt very weak.

"Where am I?"

"Lon Lon Ranch," the girl said. "You've been out for nearly two days."

I leaned back into the pillows, my brain making sense of the situation. I'd landed on the doorstep of the famous Lon Lon Ranch. The girl wasted no time in introducing herself.

"My name is Karane Lon Lon," the girl my age said, for some reason jittery with excitement. "And this is my mother Orielle."

Without further ado, she burst into a multitude of questions.

"Where are you from? What is your name? And how did you get here?"

"Karane," Orielle said, interrupting her. "Let her be for now. She still has way to go to make a full recovery. She can answer most of those later."

I felt a wave of gratitude towards Orielle; I'm in no mood to discuss what has happened recently.

"But at least darling," Orielle said to me, sitting down next to her daughter. "What is your name?"

"Mara Daphnes," I said weakly, deciding against revealing my full name.

That's a pretty name," Karane said. "But doesn't Mara mean "bitter" or "grieving" or something like that?"

My eyes flashed venom at her; Mara was my mom's favorite name. Grief is once again gathering in my chest and threatening to break out; I fight it with all my might so as to avoid breaking down in front of my hosts.

"Karane, that's very rude," her mother reprimanded her.

Karane fell silent at her mother's rebuke. Orielle poured more of the brown liquid into another cup and gave it to me, after making sure I'd be able to hold it in my weakened condition.

"It may not taste good, but this is Stamina Potion mixed in with hot chocolate," Orielle informed me. "It'll help you regain your strength back, especailly after being outside in that blizzard."

I drank a bit from the cup, tolerating the unsweetened liquid.

"Thanks," I muttered.

My thoughts soon drifted to the dream I just had. It had seemed so real, so vivid, unlike any other dream I'd ever had before. _True identity? Heir of the divine wisdom bestowed to your ancestors? The first Zelda, Nayru, appearing to me? Was it just a bizarre dream, or something more than that? _

"Keep an eye on her for me for now Karane," Orielle said, jerking me out of my thoughts. "Yell if you need anything."

Orielle collected the empty teapot and the cups, put then on the tray then left the room.

"Sorry for all the questions," Karane said. "You should thank the Goddesses that you are still alive. We found you collapsed in the snow outside our door, we thought you were dead."

"Well, thanks for taking me in," I said. "I was actually hoping to reach Castle Town to find an inn or something like that."

I could feel exhaustion creeping in on my irises and was anxious to get this conversation over so I could some more zzzz's.

"So, Mara, after we get you fully recovered here, we are planning to take you to Castle Town tomorrow," Karane said.

"Castle Town?" I repeated, a little bit confused.

"Yeah, we can send out a post card to your family..."

The dam I'd erected to contain my grief over loss of my entire family broke down under and I soon lost all composure. Tears flowed seamlessly and freely down my cheeks into my blonde hair as I dissolved in a wave of sobs. Karane, pulled me into an embrace on the bed to comfort me.

"It's okay Mara," Karane said, holding me. "Soon we'll get you back to your family, you'll be back before you know it."

"I...have...no...family," I choked out in the middle of all my sobs. "They're...g..gg...oo...oo..nne."

With that came a fresh round of tears and sobs. Karane continued to hold onto to me for some time, whispering words of encouragement until I heard the door open.

"Karane, what happened?" Orielle said.

"I don't know," Karane explained. "I just a few words and she broke down."

"Here, take this downstairs."

I heard footsteps walk to me and felt a new pair of arms embrace me.

"It's okay dear," Orielle cooed. "Please, you can trust us. Let us know what happened. Let it all out dear, it's the first step on the way to recovery."

I don't know what happened within me, but before I knew it, everything was spilling out of my mouth. The entire story, how the men arrived, slew everyone in sight, burned the homes, my mother's sacrifice for me, and my resultant winter trek. It seemed to go on for hours, but somehow, the grief that was tearing me to shreds seemed to lessen. At this point, exhaustion finally won and I felt myself drift into sleep in Orielle's arms.

My eyes fluttered open again sometime later. I found that Orielle was gone, and I was laying back on my bed. Karane was sitting on a rocking chair in the corner near the bookcase, her nose buried in one of the books.

"Karane?" I said.

"Oh," she said in surprise, putting down her book on the bookshelf. "Good morning."

She stood and walked over to the bed.

"How long did I sleep?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Another twelve hours," Karane said. "It's around eight o clock in the morning. Mother has breakfast ready, if you feel strong enough to get up. We can bring up a tray again if you'd like."

"Well, I'll try getting up," I said. "I can't stay laying in a bed all day.

I threw the blanket aside and slowly sat up in bed. I slowly slid to the edge of the bed, and Karane grabbed my left arm and helped me to my feet. My legs wobbled and burned a bit, but they held my weight.

"Hmmm, you need a new set of clothes Mara," Karane said, looking down at my dress.

I glanced down at my navy-blue dress, and saw that it is completely filthy, covered hard water spots and caked with a lot of dirt. I grimaced slightly when I realized what state my blonde hair might be in.

"I'll give you some of mine for now," Karane said, jumping up and leaving the room.

I simply watched her go, a bit stunned at her kindness. She emerged with a simple orange shirt with the Lon Lon Ranch symbol on it along with an orange skirt. She tossed them at me and I caught them in my arms.

"The bathroom with the tub is right behind you," Karane said, motioning behind me to a behind me that I hadn't noticed before. "The tub is already filled with hot water for me this morning but you can use it instead."

"No Karane, I can wait, you don't have to do this for me," I protested.

"You're family," she replied.

"What?" I said, hardly believing what I have just heard.

Karane simply smiled at me.

"Bathe, or my mother will be after my blood. She's a clean freak, and has put me in charge of getting

With that she turned on her heel, and marched out of the room, closing the door behind her. With that, I went into the bathroom. It was quite spacious, with a metal tub and an ornamental sink. It was quite nice stripping off my dirty clothes and settling into the hot water. As I scrubbed my body with soap, a rich layer of dirt I'd not realized that was on my skin peeled with the water off into the metal tub, turning the water a dark disgusting brown color.

I pulled the orange shirt over my head and put the skirt on. It made me look like an advertisement board for Lon Lon Ranch, but it's better than the gritty outfit I just got out of. I went back out of the bathroom and into the main bedroom, opened the door leading to the rest of the house and found myself in a large wooden halfway, decorated with dozens of portraits of what looked like former owners of the ranch. I followed it until it reach a flight of stairs, then I followed them down into the kitchen, where I gasped in surprise.

It was enormous and that's an understatement. It was at least large enough to hold around twenty people in the food preparation area, and with a large enough capacity to serve at least twice that number. It had four sinks, dozens of cupboards containing everything from food to silverware, and herbs of every variety hung from the ceiling. An enormous wooden table, big enough to sit fifty easily, was in the middle of the kitchen. In the middle sat Orielle, Karane, and what I take is her father. They've left an empty chair, next to Karane for me. I slowly walked up to them and took my place next to Karane.

A few moments of awkward silence followed before Karane's father spoke. He was wearing the traditional men's worker clothing, with the Lon Lon Ranch logo emblazoned on his pants and his shirt. Karane had gotten her brown eyes from him, but he had black hair instead of Karane's brown.

"Welcome Mara," he said to me. "I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Talon Lon Lon, Karane's father. As you probably well know, we own and run the famous Lon Lon Ranch, who's products are used all over Hyrule."

"Honey," said Orielle. "We have some things to discuss with you before we get started dear."

"I can imagine that would be the case," I said, taking my seat at the table.

_Who wouldn't? It's not every day a ragged, exhausted, half-dead teenaged girl shows up on your doorstep in the middle of a blizzard, _I reasoned.

"Where are you from and how did you get here in such a driving blizzard?" Orielle asked. "We need to get you back to your remaining family as soon as possible, they're probably worried sick about you dear."

I looked down at the table. It was a subject I still wasn't keen on discussing. Although I'd gotten out much of the grief last night, the subject was still rather raw for me. But they deserved to know if they could give me anymore help.

"Okay," I said, indifferent to my own emotions. "I'll answer to the best of my ability. You already know much of what happened. I'll fill in the gaps for you. It's best if I tell the entire story."

I steeled myself; I just needed to keep it together for just five minutes.

"My full name is Mara Zelda Nohansen Daphnes, and I come from a village called Mordon, that is deep in the Faron Woods," I began. "It was a small farming community. Everyone knew everyone all my family was there. Aunts, Uncles, grandparents, we all lived within walking distance pretty much."

I wiped a few tears away which were already streaking down my face. The entire Lon Lon family had their eyes glued to me as I began my heart wrenching story.

"Then, just last night, men came wearing black uniforms to our village. They appeared like ghosts out of the blizzard, carrying torches and weapons of every description. They..they..."

And so I went on, reliving the terrible scenes from that night. Before my eyes I can see unarmed men, women and children fleeing their homes in the middle of a blizzard, armed heartless masked men chasing them with torches and weapons, burning the village to the ground. Then I come to by far the worse memory of all.

_"Mara, we've got to go," my mother yelled at me._

_I ran to the closet in the tiny-one room cabin that we shared on the outskirts of Mordon. I grabbed two black winter cloaks out of the closest and threw one of them to my mother._

_"We're going to need this to make it to Castle Town," I said._

_My mother accepted the cloak without any protest. We put them on, and bundled each other up the best we could in our warmest traveling dresses, which I have to say aren't . _

_"We must go westward," my mother instructed me. "If we get split up, go westward until you hit Castle Town. We'll find each other there."_

_I had many objections to this plan; Castle Town was huge. It would be nearly impossible to find one another in such a huge city, but it was the only choice in a blizzard like this. _

_"But what about our aunts, uncles, and our grandparents?" I asked._

_She looked at me with a hard but knowing look. Tears started to well up in my eyes as I thought of their possible fates. Why did this have to befall us? Without a word, my mother wrenched open the back door, grasped my hand and we headed out westward into the storm._

_I allowed her to guide me as we ran, looking desperately for a sign of any of my friends or family members. Occasionally a dark figure holding a torch would seem to appear out of the whiteness and run by us, but mercifully, the Goddesses spared our lives. I chanced a look back and saw a fire bloom out of the blizzard, though I could barely see it. I'm guessing that it's our cabin, burned to the ground like a pile of firewood. The snow crunched beneath our feet and the wind whipped about us as we hurried deeper into the woods. We'd been going for some time when my mother came to a halt._

_"Mom, why have we stopped, are we going the right way?" I asked, dreading the answer._

_"Mara go," she said._

_"What?" I said in shock._

_"Mara, go now," she said firmly._

_The horrible realization of what my mom was saying came crashing in on me. _

_"What? No!" I replied, embracing her as tightly as I could._

_I'd already lost so many, I wasn't going to lose another. _

_"Mara go," she said._

_It was a command, not a question. But my feet remained immobile; they didn't want to go anywhere. Out of the corner of my eye I saw men with torches on horses closing in on us. That's when I understood why but I couldn't bear the thought._

_"Zelda, this is where our journey together ends," she said, using my middle name._

_"No, we can escape together, let's go. We need to try. I can't leave you," I responded, tears streaking down my cheeks._

_My mother finally managed to separate the two of us. She gripped my hands tightly, staring into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity._

_She reached out one of her hands and tenderly stroked the sides of my face, wiping away the tears and pushing my blonde hair out of my eyes. Out of my entire family, I'm the only one who inherited my mother's blue eyes and golden blonde hair. She had always doted on me because of that._

_"Dearest Zelda," she said. "You are more important than I am. We'll meet again, whether it be in this life or another, it does not matter my child."_

_She gave me another embrace. Tears were streaming thick and fast down my face, as I determined never to let go. _

_"I'll always love you, Zelda."_

_"Zelda?" I repeated._

_It was unusual for my mother to use my middle name twice in a row._

_"Zelda, my princess of destiny," she said, linking my middle name and my nickname together. "Named after one of the strongest woman ever to ascend the throne of Hyrule, channel her strength, and go to fulfill your destiny." _

_But again my feet remained immobile. I heard several horses neigh right next to us. My mom, twirled in our embrace and threw me off a snow bank and I cartwheeled down, into a thicket of trees.. Panic engulfed me, my mother was in grave danger. I struggled to get to my feet when the a familiar piercing scream shattered the air, one that penetrated to my very core and reverberated throughout my entire body. Pain erupted from the very depth of my soul and into my chest as the terrible truth hit me like a bolt of lightning. I started shaking uncontrollably, not from cold or the blizzard, but from the grief that was penetrating inside me._

_As tears and violent sobs began to cloud my vision, I saw torches coming nearer. _

_**"Go Zelda, fulfill your destiny" **__came in my mom's voice out of nowhere, seemingly on the wind. _

_I turned and ran, into the woods, into the blizzard, never looking back, with pain tearing through my entire body in every footstep._

"Oh Mara," Karane wailed, running and hugging me, nearly causing the chair I was sitting on to topple over.

Despite my efforts, I had once again become a nervous wreck. Karane's parents, both of whom had tears in their eyes looked at each other and nodded.

"Mara, seeing as you are now an orphan, how would you like to stay with us?" Talon asked.

I couldn't believe what he was hearing. The tears stopped flowing from my eyes as a hint of joy began to grow in my chest despite the grief.

"What?" is all I could get out over Karane's shoulder.

"Stay with us. I know we'll never replace the family that you've lost, but would you like to live with as if you are one of us?"

A smile was creeping across Karane's face as she processed what her father was proposing. Orielle just smiled at me.

"What do you think Mara?" she said, still holding me in an embrace.

It takes my brain a few moments to fully grasp what they are saying.

"A..re...are...you..serious?" I choked out.

Orielle nodded her head.

My brain

"Th-thank you," was all I could get out.

After a few more moment in which I managed to regain my composure, Orielle brought out four large bowls of apple porridge for the four of us. Just before everyone dug in, I willed myself to speak.  
"Karane, Orielle, Talon," I said.

They all looked at me with inquisitive looks.

"My name isn't Mara anymore," I said. "my name is Zelda, which is the name my mother gave to me."

To me it was fitting; that was the last name my mother had called me before she departed this life.

(Out of Zelda's POV)

Meanwhile, a letter was on its way to Hyrule Castle in Castle Town, but was held up at the Post Office due to the blizzard. Inside it, in a well-practiced hand it read.

_Dear Matinus_

_I will be dead when you read this, so don't bother looking for me. I write to you on my deathbed about a horrible yet terrifying truth I found in the midst of my many travels in the Gerudo Valley; the dark forces we thought were long extinguished are back and more terrible than ever before. You must act to stop them before it is too late. _

_The key to saving Hyrule was given to me by a woman of the Shiekah tribe now I pass it onto you. After the murder of the Royal Family, they vanished into the shadows. You will never find them unless your intent is to save Hyrule from destruction._

_The key is this; you must give up the throne to the remaining descendents of the ancient Hyrulean Royal Family your grandfather ejected. They have the wisdom of the Goddess Nayru and will be able to see and stop the destruction that awaits our land. If you don't do this, the blood of every man, woman, and child that walks our cities, towns, and villages will be on your hands._

_Your former Chancellor and servant Maliden_

_P.S. I've included an enchanted envelope. If you obey my council, write so and send it in the mail. It will reach the Shiekah tribe, but I leave a warning. If you try to deceive them, you will never find them and will destroy any army you send against them. Please heed my words. I pray that the Goddess Nayru may guide you in your decisions._


	3. Chapter 2-Castle Town

**Castle Town is based on the one that appears in Ocarina of Time. It may seemed a bit rushed towards the end, but I thought that's how one might perceive it in light of the circumstances that are happening.**

**Please review**

**I do not own the Legend of Zelda or any of its chacacters**

Chapter 2 Castle Town

After my massive meltdown, the day passed by rather quickly for me. I spent most of the time inside, learning more about my adoptive family, observing their routines, and exploring the rest of the mansion. When the sun finally slipped below the horizon, I slipped under the covers in my bed in a white nightgown, anxious to get more sleep and recover further. As I lifted my hand to the nightstand to put out the candle, my door opened. Karane came in a blue nightgown, took one last look at the hallway, before closing the door. That puzzled me; why did she need to do that? She quietly walked over to me and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Zelda," she said. "Can you tell me a bit more about yourself or would you'd rather wait for a while?"

_What should I tell her if anything? _Thoughts such as these raced through my mind as I pondered her question or whether or not to answer. She just stared a me in silence, while I struggled internally. The last thing I wanted to do was to lose it twice in one day. In the midst of the war of reasons, a conversation I'd had many years ago with my mother burst into my mind.

_"Mara," my mother said, pulling me into an embrace._

_"I don't want to talk about it," I replied._

_"Honey, dear if you don't talk about it, the grief inside of you will grow and consume you. Now dear tell me what happened."_

That made up my mind for me.

"Okay Karane," I said. "You already know about the tragedies that brought me here. I'll tell you more. My full name is Mara Zelda Nohansen Daphnus, Nohansen after my grandfather, Mara because my mom liked the name, and Zelda after the princesses that have ruled and saved Hyrule in the past. I never knew my father, but my mother's name was Serene Harkinian Daphnus."

I dabbed at my eyes dry up the tears that were already leaking out.

"She was an archer in the Royal Rangers for a time before she met dad and had me. She used to sing and tell me the stories and legends of Hyrule every night before I went to bed."

My eyes started swimming with tears again. Karane, now with a look of regret on her face, crawled close to me on the bed and put her arms around me in a tight embrace.

"Thank you Karane," I sputtered out. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome Zelda, you're welcome," Karane said back to me.

We embraced very tightly. Even though I'd only known the Lon Lons for little more than two days, they are starting to feel like family to me.

Karane let go of me after the tears finally stopped coming down my cheeks. She climbed off my bed, and started to walk out the door, pausing briefly before she left.

"Zelda, tomorrow we're going into Castle Town to get you your own clothes, you can't go on borrowing from me forever."

"What? Karane no, you can't do this," I protested.

They've done enough for me. Karane threw me a mischievous smile.

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

She left, closing the door behind her. I felt a wave of sleepiness over taking me and I slumped into the pillows, which were very enticing and soon found myself drifting off into the world of sleep.

_I suddenly became aware that I was standing at the window in my room, staring out at the stars. My roomin the Lon Lon manor faces north, at Castle Town and the river, or moat that flows under the bridge that goes into the city itself. No clouds covered the moon, or any part of the sky for that matter tonight. My eyes canvassed the skies, observing the stars I used to watch for hours on end as a little girl, lying out near my small home in the grass with my friends on our backs watching the stars. My mind drifted back to those days. Playing without a care in the world with my friends and siblings, shooting Deku Nuts with slingshots at passing butterflies, and my all-time favorite thing to do, archery practice with my mom. She'd doted on me from my birth, when my father disappeared from our lives forever, and taught me everything she knew, including how to..._

_ Suddenly a streak of gold shot up out of the middle of Castle Town. It rose out of the middle of the city, near Hyrule Castle, and headed south, zigzagging to and fro over the rooftops. I squinted at it, trying to get a better view of what it was, even rubbed my eyes, trying to get the sight out of my line of sight, believing that it was an illusion. Eventually, it came close enough I could finally make out what it actually was._

_ A triangle, a single golden triangle was on a course heading south. I'd swore I'd seen something like that before, so I racked my brain for what it could be, but it just couldn't come up with anything. Yet I felt strangely nostalgic when I saw it, as if it was an old friend or objects I'd hadn't seen in many years. The triangle crossed the city walls, and dropped to about the level of my window, then made a beeline for the ranch._

_ Now my nerves kicked in, sending fear and panic shooting up my spine. I began to back away slowly from the window, my feet reluctantly obeying the command to move. It's crazy: this isn't supposed to happen at all! __It came closer and closer and my mind began to think of running from my room and going to get Talon or Orielle. I bolted for the door. My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I fumbled with the doorknob, opening the door. Just as I was about to bolt out of the room when a voice, sweet and delicate, came out of nowhere, whether in my mind or on the wind I can't tell._

_"Zelda, princess of destiny, don't refuse that which is yours to bear."_

_ The voice came out of nowhere, causing a soothing calm to come over me. I turned and look behind me to see the golden triangle now floating in my room, at about my eye level. It began to rotate and I stared mesmerized at it. It rotated faster and faster until it became a beam of light which shot straight for me. Despite soothing calm I felt, I tried to get out through the door but it struck before I could get one foot outside the door._

_ It lowered in altitude and plunged straight into my stomach region, rapidly disappearing into my body. I let go of the doorknob, and gripped my stomach as pain reverberated from my stomach region. I struggled get to my feet and walk to my bed, but felt my energy rapidly leaving me. Darkness pressed upon my consciousness like a fog, clouding my view. I felt my knees lock and I fell to the floor, the last thing I saw was the carpet rushing up to greet me._

"Mara, Mara, wake up," came from somewhere in the darkness.

My eyes fluttered open. I was right next to my bed, on the floor. I rubbed my eyes and they lighted upon Karane who was kneeling next to me in a green nightdress, a look of concern on her face.

"Are you alright? You were tossing and turning when I got up here. Was it a bad dream?" Karane asked.

My mind went over the dream, or what might have actually have happened last night. _Was it a dream, or wasn't it a dream? Or did it actually happen? __And that voice, it matched the woman in the dream that I had when I passed out in the snow? Could they be related?_

"Mar-, Zelda, are you alright?" Karane said, pulling me back to reality.

_Should I tell the Lon Lons? Would they even believe me? _

"It was just a bad dream," I lied, not liking myself for doing it.

"Oh, okay," she said. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No," I replied."Better just to let them go and fade away."

"Okay," she said, a look of queerness on her face. "Breakfast is ready."

She got up, and skipped out of the room the room. I got up off the floor and went over to the wardrobe that I hadn't noticed before. It's a bit battered, with elaborate patterns carved into the dark brown deku wood, culminating at the top with a three triangle pattern carved above the twin wooden doors, which each have a mirror inside them. I flung the doors open and found to my surprise that were where at least a dozen dresses hanging in it. I rifled and flipped through them carefully, feeling the clothe; I'd never handled fabric this soft or luxurious before. My eyes alighted on a white dress with oversized sleeves and an embroidered golden neckline. I took it off the hanger and examined it.

I instantly liked it: it reminded me of the dress the girl who descended from the sky, the first Zelda, I'd seen in pictures back in the books my mom used to read me in Mordon. I pulled off my blue nightgown and put the white dress on. It fitted perfectly and was very easy to move around in. I chose to let my mid-back length hair flow down unimpeded, except for two strands in my bangs, which I wrapped in blue beads. I twirled a couple of times in the mirrors; I looked almost exactly like her (which I'd seen in illustrations), which was my attention. Done, I opened the door and went down the stairs into the cavernous kitchen. Karane, Orielle, and Talon are all already there, with bowls of porridge in front of them. I skipped from the foot of the stairs to the table, taking a seat next to Karane.

"Hi Orielle, Talon," I said.

"Zelda," Karane said, taking in my appearance. "You look absolutely gorgeous."

"Thank you," I replied, trying not to blush.

A bowl of brown porridge greeted me as I sat down at the table. Talon had already finished his breakfast and was a large paper. It said the Hyrule Times in bold across the top.

"What's that?"

"Zelda," Talon said surprised."You honestly don't know what a newspaper is?"

"No. Talon, I'm from deep in the Faron Woods," I reminded him. "We never saw anything like that."

They can't expect for me to adjust overnight.

"We'll dear," he said, folding up the newspaper, getting up from his seat and giving Orielle a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm going to go and get the horses ready."

"Okay," Orielle said.

"Horses, sleigh?" I said, hoping to catch Orielle's or Karane's attention.

"That's right," Orielle said. "We're just going over to Castle Town, to get you some clothes of your own..."

"No, no that's really not a problem Mrs. Lon Lon," I protested.

"Call me Orielle," she corrected me.

It was true: I'd counted ten different outfits in that wardrobe, surely that's enough. After all, for the first sixteen years of my life, I'd gotten along with only three outfits; one to wear and two in the wash.

"You need your own wardrobe and clothes dear," Orielle said.

"No, please you don't have to do this for me."

"We are, now sit down and eat before your breakfast gets cold."

I was a little taken aback by the sudden end to the conversation. My eyes shifted to Karane, her mouth full of porridge. She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a "best not to argue" look. After shoveling a few spoonfuls of porridge into my mouth, I chanced another question.

"So what's the city like?"

"You've never been in the city before?" Orielle asked in surprise.

"Nope."

"Lots of people live there, tons of houses, many markets. And there are so many shops, you'll love it Mar-oh, Zelda," Karane said, squealing with excitement.

"But don't you think you should stay home dear?," Orielle said, cutting her daughter off. "We can just go get them for you."

I've had enough of the bed. Not to mention I'm feeling just fine, although my energy level is still not what is was before the blizzard.  
"No, I'm fine."

"You sure dear?"

"Yes Orielle."

Excitement and nervousness are both starting to build within me; I've never been inside a city before. Consequently, I was more than helpful when Orielle asked me to help clean up breakfast. When all the dishes were clean, we dressed into snow cloaks (Orielle insisted I wear at least three and drink three Hot Chocolate/Stamina Potions). Pronounced fit and ready to go by Orielle, all of us trudged our way out to the waiting sleigh and horses.

The sleigh looks a little run down, but still in good condition. Make of deku wood it has two 'benches'; one for the driver and one for the passengers. Talon was there, dressed in a large black trench coat and boots, with another boy there dressed in green that I didn't recognize. But what amazed me was the horses. Two chestnut Clydesdales, with powerful muscles and glossy coats, hooked to the sleigh. They were the finest horses I'd ever seen, making the ones I used to plow the fields back in Mordon look like total pansies. Each had a strip of white that traveled down their faces and ended at the nose. Karane noticed me staring at the horses.

"Epona and Edona," she said. "They are rarities. They were twins, born to our finest mare and stallion. They are the pride of the ranch."

I finally stopped staring and followed Karane. Karane filed into the backseat first. I stopped to let Orielle go in first so she could sit by her daughter.

"No, you first Mar-Zelda," she said.

"No, you fir..."

"Zelda, just get in the sleigh please," Karane interrupted.

I did as she said, feeling like a cornered Cuccou with how close Karane and Orielle sat next to me. I'm guessing they're doing it because they're still afraid that I'll keel over or something.

"Everyone ready, by the Goddesses, let's go," Talon said.

I cringed when he said that; the goddesses were always treated with great respect back in my village and usage of their names like that wasn't allowed. A_pparently things are much more different out here than I thought. _Talon slapped reigns and off we went, the skids sliding through the foot-deep snow with ease. I spent most of the ride staring at the weird shapes on the ground that the blizzard had thrown up. It looked like fall in Faron Woods, where all the leaves would pile up here and there, and we kids would jumps into them, gather them back up again and repeat the process all over again.

The city's massive walls came closer and closer and I was in awe of their spectacular height. No one could take this city easily. Several buildings towered above the walls, tallest of which was a massive castle, it's many turrets rising spectacularly to the sky.

"What castle is that?" I asked Karane.

"Hyrule Castle, where King Matinus II reigns," Karane said, a bitter note to her voice.

This puzzled me; why would Karane be bitter about the monarchy or the rulers of the country. I made a mental note to ask later as we were just arriving at a very large stable situated just outside the city wall. They were immense, with enough stalls for at least 200 horses. Around forty sleighs of different varieties scattered around the stables. About a hundred horses or where in the stalls, neighing to each other. Boys and even a few girls in overcoats scrambled around the horses, feeding and watering them and cleaning out their stalls.

"Okay," he said. "Link help me unhook the horses and get them into their stalls."

"Link?" I said in surprise.

Sure enough, a boy about half a foot taller than me came from behind the sleigh. I don't know how I didn't see him on the ride here. He had sandy-blonde hair, misty blue eyes, and somehow, I seem to recognize him from somewhere, although I've never seen him before. He doesn't say anything but came up to the front. Talon unhitched the horses and lead them, with Link's help into the two stalls, which had hay, oats, and unfrozen water already there. It was fascinating to watch how they did it. With the horses safely in the stalls, Talon gave Link a red rupee and he shuffled across the drawbridge and into the city at a quick pace.  
"Who's Link Talon? I asked.

"Link, is a ranch hand from Castle Town," he said. "He's been staying at the ranch for the last week, helping us milk the cows. We're giving him a lift back to his home here in the city."

Suddenly Karane grabbed my hand.

"Okay Zelda, we're off to Malon's Womanwear first," she proudly announced, pulling me across the drawbridge with her.

"Karane, can't we go slower?" I protested, a bit put off by her rush.

She pulled me across the drawbridge and into the city, with Talon and Orielle right behind us. I'm amazed by the city. Houses bigger than ones I've ever seen lined the white path (or 'streets' as Karane calls it) that wound its way directly down the center of the city. Many other streets cut off from the one Karane is pulling me down and disappear into different parts of the city. During the fall, summer, or spring, I'm sure the city would look much more colorful, when everything is covered in a blanket of white.

They passed slowly by as I let Karane drag me deeper into the city, myself too absorbed in taking in my surroundings. Eventually, we came to a wide open square, lined with stalls and a vast crowd of people, milling around. Merchants were hawking their wares to the crowd, customers were doling out rupees and arguing with the merchants. Everything from weapons to teapots were being exchanged and traded right before my very eyes. Karane dragged me to a stone building on the edge of the square. It had a sign above it that said "Malon's Womanwear" in gold Hylian lettering. As Karane pulled me inside I gasped; I'd never seen so many clothes in my life. Clothes of every kind were on racks from the door which we just came in to the back wall. Every kind, from dresses to men's work clothes in all different colors.

A lady greeted us inside the store. She was dressed in a beautiful red dress that had the store's name sewn across the blouse.

"May I help you Karane?" she said.

No wonder why Karane dragged me here.

"Hi Malon," Karane said with a grin. "This is my friend here and she needs a completely new warderobe."

"Hmm," she said, pulling out a measuring tape. "What's your name dear?"

"Zelda," I said, not wanting to give out much more information.

My mom has always warned me to be wary of strangers.

"Zelda, not a common name anymore," Malon commented, measuring my waistline and height.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Not many people around here have Zelda as their name anymore," Malon commented. "It has kind of fallen out of use lately, as names come and go."

"Okay."

The door opens and Orielle and Talon come in, winded.

"Come with me dear," Malon said, grabbing me by the arm and steering my forcefully through the store towards the woman's section.

For the next four hours, two of which in Malon's shop, Karane, Orielle and Talon dragged me from clothes store to clothes store. I soon lost track of how many outfits I was trying on. But as the numbers and prices accumulated, I began to worry about how much this was going to cost.

"How much is this going to cost?" I dared asked Orielle at one shop, my hands full with three different dresses.

"Don't worry about that dear," she said.

_Why does she keep calling me 'dear'?_

She pulled two red rupees out of a bag and hands them over to the clerk without even so much as batting an eye. _A red rupee was all that my family ever had!_

"Orielle, you sure about this?" I asked again.

"Of course dear."

When we finally finished with our last store, we emerged into a marketplace in the heart of the city. It wasn't much different from the one Malon's shop was, except it was much larger and a street lead directly out of it to Hyrule Castle.

BANG!

A massive explosion erupted from the other end of the marketplace. From a destroyed house, poured out red little creatures screeching and wielding clubs. People started fleeing and panicking and the throng of peaceful shoppers became a mob, trying to get away from the chaos. In response to the chaos unfolding in the marketplace, guards raced out from the castle and slammed into the oncoming horde of monsters. The sounds of battle soon added to the mix of terrified and fleeing people. The rest of the Lon Lon family stood there as though transfixed. We urgently needed to get out of here. The whole situation was made even messier by the fact there was snow on the ground. People were sliding all over the place in the rush to get out of the square.

"Talon, let's get out of here," I said, punching him in the back.

It shook him out of his stupor. He shook the other two women.

"Everyone, let's go," he said.

They followed me the way we had come earlier. Holding hands as tightly as we could, we flung ourselves into the panicking crowd, trying to stay together. More guards flew by us, smashing into the oncoming horde behind us. Talon now took the lead, making our way slowly, through the crowd to a street that lead off eastward from the square.

"Where does this lead to?"

Talon lead the way. Gradually we worked our way through the alleyway, which emptied into the south market of the city. Suddenly we found ourselves in a mass of humanity, people fleeing the approach of the Bokoblin army.

"Karane," I yelled.

"Mara," she yelled back.

But there was little we could do. And my worse nightmare had come true; I'm now a young woman who from the backwoods now lost in a city which I have never seen before. Karane, Talon, and Orielle vanished from my sight, swallowed by the crowd. I had little choice but to follow the crowd to the north, away from the south gate and Lon Lon Ranch. Eventually, the crowd fans out, enabling me to make my escape, but not until I've reached an area somewhere in the north of the city, far away from the Bokoblins.

I end up in a wide open marketplace where I took refuge in a small alleyway off to the side. I breathed in deep breaths and exhaled, trying to contain the panic building within me. My situation couldn't be worse; even if I headed directly south towards Lon Lon Ranch and Hyrule Field, there was a good chance I'd get lost for days within such a large city or worse, possibly mugged by bandits. As I looked around, my eyes lighted on an abandoned stall with a undamaged _bow and a quiver full of arrows. _

Looking around for the merchants, couldn't see them anywhere in the deserted, snow-covered square. Reasoning that a life-threatening situation needs drastic decisions, I grabbed both of them and strapped the quiver of bows to my back while holding my bow to my chest. Feeling much safer and protected, I began to head south, a bow on the string, read for anything that would come my way.

WHAM!

Something slammed into my legs, causing me to slam into the snow, landing on my stomach. I immediately noticed a huge shadow appear over me. Fear trickled down my spine and into my toes as turned rolled onto my back. A red beast, with an enormous belly, a big wooden shield in one hand, and a nasty-looking spear in the other. It raised the spear and brought it down on top of me. My legs were like red potion; they refused to move. I dropped the bow and closed my eyes, awaiting the impact.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed.


	4. Chapter 3-Secrets

I do not own the Legend of Zelda

Chapter 3-Secrets &amp; Confidantes

I tried to command my legs to move, but they refused to budge an inch. I just laid on my back, my eyes closing involuntarily, ready for the end.

"Aaahhhh," I screamed.

A massive light erupted right next to me, flooding my closed eyes with light. A squeal of pain emanated from the general direction of the moblin, followed by the sound of something crashing to the ground. Forcing my eyes open, I saw the moblin on it's back, having been knocked over by some invisible force.

"Magic," I muttered to myself in horror and realization, panic lodging in my chest. "No, not again, please not now, not now."

The moblin started to push on the snow-covered ground, trying to get back up, using its massive wooden shield and its spear as leverage to get off the frozen ground. My legs finally heeded me, and I began to run away from the moblin, towards the wrecked shops and houses lining the square I was in. I hadn't gone far when something swiped out my feet from under me. I crashed into the snow, skidding to a stop on my front. I rolled onto my back to face the moblin, just in time to catch a dark figure come literally out of nowhere. He plowed into the moblin, causing it to crash to the ground again. The moblin finally managed to get to it's feet on him and stabbed at the boy with his spear, which he blocked with a round metal/wooden in his left hand. In the boy's other hand was a sword.

"Look out!" I yelled involuntarily.

The moblin had jabbed at him with it's ugly spear. The boy did a full back flip to dodge it. I finally saw his face and identified him; he was the farm hand that Talon had called Link who'd hitched a ride with us into the city. He briefly locked eyes with me, then turned and began to deal with the moblin. For a few minutes, I just watched the two go at it, jabbing and swiping at each other with their weapons, and blocking each other's thrusts with their shields. The moblin still had the advantage and was slowly backing Link up. With panic beginning to surge within my chest again, I extracted the bow which miraculously hadn't broken, and brought it in front of me. With trembling hands, I struggled to put the arrow on the string.

"Aaahh," I heard Link yell out.

The moblin had laid Link out with a shield bash and was now standing over the helpless boy. It raised its ugly spear to finish my would-be savior off, as I fumbled to put the arrow into the string. When the arrow finally locked to the string, I raised the bow and arrow and aimed the shaft of the arrow at the mobin's massive right eye. Praying and hoping against hope, I released the drawstring. It flew straight and true; embedding in the moblin's eye socket. It squealed in pain, dropped its spear and massive wooden shield. Link watched the scene in shock, but quickly recovered.

"You're finished," Link said to the moblin, getting back up and stabbing his sword into the beast's belly.

The moblin, still squirming, let out a last cry then toppled over backwards. It turned black, then vanished in a purple puff of smoke.

"Thanks Link," I said.

"Don't mention it," he said, putting his blade into its sheath, and extending hand to me.

I took his hand, and he gave an enormous pull that helped me get to my feet. I then brushed the snow off my blue snow cloak, shouldered the quiver of arrows over my back and picked up the bow in my right hand. I began to walk through the snow to the south, towards Lon Lon Ranch, when the sound of crunching of snow behind me informed me that Link was following me.

"Link, what are you doing?" I asked, still walking southward, now out of the square, turning on my heel to face him.

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked back.  
"I don't know what you're doing."

"Making sure you get home safely."

I froze and rolled my eyes. _Didn't I just a save **his** life? _

"Where are you going?" he asked, ignoring my question.

"To Lon Lon Ranch," I said.

Suddenly, he broke into a run, raced by me, and clanged swords with a Bokoblin behind me which I hadn't noticed.

"So, what's your name? I haven't seen you around the ranch before until recently. Are you a farm hand or a newly hired maid?"

"My name is Zelda," I replied in a testy voice, that I wasn't keen on purchasing . "No, I'm not a farm hand or a maid, but a member of the Lon Lon family."

It was technically true; Talon and Orielle had made it clear that I was wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I had no desire to discuss my past with anyone else other than the Lon Lons.

"Oh," he said, seeming to ponder this for moment. "Where are you from then originally?"

_Won't he get the cue and back off this subject? Boys are dense sometimes. _

"Faron Woods, my family was slain so the Lon Lons took me in."

I pray that I would reach the Lon Lon family in time to tip them off so they wouldn't show too many more details about me to this stranger.

"Sorry, about that," he apologized.

A familiar screeching sound set off warning bells in my head. I grabbed the crook of Link's arm and dragged him into the remains of a nearby burned-out building.

"Zelda, what are you..."

"Shhhh, quiet," I commanded.

"No.."

The grunts and groans of Bokoblins were getting louder and louder. I armed my bow while Link drew his sword. Sure enough, around twenty Bokoblins walked right in front of our hiding place and conveniently stationed themselves right in front of us. Our enmity vanquished by the quest for survival, our eyes searched the buildings around us, searching for any escape route. As my eyes cast over the abandoned and burned out buildings, I noticed many potential hiding places. A dangerious and conniving plan formed in my mind.

"Stay here," I told Link.

I started climbing a nearby ladder to the roof of a white-brick house that was mostly undamaged.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a whisper.

"Disposing of the rabble," I said.

Reaching the roof, I squatted behind a chimney, placed a bow in the string, and peered down the shaft of the arrow at the nearest red monster, which was around a 30 yards away from us. I loosed the string and the arrow slithered away from the bow. It struck the Bokoblin in the back. It keeled over and vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"Nice shot," Link said from the street, grasping my brilliant idea.

"Stay there," I repeated.

He obeyed. I moved from hiding place to hiding place for the next twenty minutes or so, crouching behind chimneys, in alleyways, and behind fallen piles of masonry. One by one, arrows sliced into the Bokoblins seemingly from nowhere, knocking them out one by one. The survivors began to panic, filling the snow-covered square and the surrounding streets with their high-pitched cries and running aimlessly in circles as they became more agitated as more of their comrades keeled over under the assault from nowhere.

The last Bokoblin thought, proved to be tricky though. This one had completely lost its sanity, running around the square and yelling at the top of its lungs. I moved out from behind a chimney to get a better shot, when it finally saw me. It drew a bow, placed an arrow and fired at me before I could arm myself. Time seemed to slow as I watched the arrow come nearer and nearer. I reacted out of pure instinct; I twirled and a pyramid of blue light enveloped me. The arrow impact the blue light; just hanging in the air in front of my eyes. It then turned around, and headed right back from whence it came. The arrow nailed its sender in the face, and the last Bokoblin keeled over.

My mind was racing as it contemplated what just had happened. To make matters worse, a voice spoke from behind me.

"How'd you do that?"

I shrieked and whirled around.

"Do what?" I asked, trying to hide the panic in my voice. _Had he saw that?_

"Shoot down all the red monsters?"

The panic vanished as quickly as it had arisen.

"Lots of practice and a mother who was in the Royal Guard," I anwsered, stringing the bow over my shoulder.

I turned and began to walk to the south again, with Link right behind me. With his help, I let him guide me through a series of alleyways and shortcuts that circumvented the market and streets where the Bokoblins had appeared. After about an hour, the southern walls of the city came into view. My feet slipped several times on the icy wooden bridge that lead out of the city. As we emerged from the city, loud voices were emanating from our immediate left where the stables where. A massive crowd was milling around them; woman, children, and men were all trying to get their horses and sleighs together, eager to leave as soon as possible. And in a scene that tore at my heart, mothers, fathers, and children were also wandering around, calling for lost family members. Jus Karane walked right in front of me, twisting her hands in front of her, a distressed and worried look on her face, and barely visible tear streaks on her face. _Did they really miss me that much?_ I took the quiver of arrows off my back, and tossed it and the bow into the river that ran under the wooden bridge. I wouldn't need them anymore.

"Karane!," I yelled.

She froze in her tracks. Very slowly, she turned and looked at me. She stared at me for a few moments as though she couldn't believe her eyes.

"ZELDA!" she squealed with delight, running towards me despite the snow.

She covered the distance between the two of us in almost no time flat and swept me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Zelda, Where have you been? You aren't hurt are you? I was so worried," she screamed.

"I'm alright Karane..."

I felt my eyes widen when I heard another shriek from behind Karane. It was Orielle, and she was also running towards me, arms outstretched. She joined Karane's bone-crushing hug with one of her own, doubling the pressure.

"We were so worried Zelda," she screeched.

"Umm, Ka..r..ane, Or..ie..lle," I uttered.

"Yes?," Orielle and Karane said together.

"Ca..ca..can I br...bre..athe?"

"Oh, sorry," both said together, letting me go.

Air creeped into my oxygen-deprived lungs for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"You are okay?" Orielle said, walking around me and examining. "No injuries or anything like that?"

"No, I'm just really tired."

Orielle noticed Link standing behind me.

"Link, did you help her?" she asked.

"Yes, but she didn't want it at first," he said in a disgusted voice.

Orielle gave him a bone-crushing hug as well. He flushed a bright red as Karane also gave him one as well.

"Thanks for bringing our Zelda back to us," Orielle said.

"Oh, it was nothing," Link said.

They let go of him and came back to me. Karane grabbed my arm and clung on, as if afraid I'd vanish if she let go.

"We're going back to the ranch dear," she said, "Talon already has the sled ready. He was going to have us go back to the ranch while he conducted a search for you."

"Which we wouldn't have done anyways," Karane chimed in.

"Oh," I said, not surprised.

The four of us crunched through the snow, Karane still attached to my arm, around the milling crowd and to our sled. Talon was in the driver's seat on the sleigh, calming the horses. His face literally lit up when he saw me.

"Zelda, glad to see you're alright. Karnae and Orielle were beside themselves with you missing."

"Sorry about that," I said.

"What about my dresses and new outfits?" I asked, suddenly remembering them.

Karane smiled, and padded a bulging brown satchel hanging on her back.

"Half of them are on order and the rest I folded up and put in here. So, no harm done. But I wonder what those things were? They were like little monsters, savage beasts..."

"Bokoblins," I said, taking them all by surprise.

"Boko-what?" Orielle asked, tongue-tied.

"Nasty little creatures that value their undergarments, wield clubs, bows and arrows, and have little to no brains."

They all looked at me with surprised looks on their faces.

"They were all over the place in the Faron Woods."

"Oh," all three of them said at once.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder and saw Link, still right behind me, staring at me. We locked eyes and he quickly looked away.

"Thanks Link for all your help," I said with a smile, and giving him a wave.

He started to turn a bright red, especailly when I began giggling in response to him blushing.

"What is it Zelda?" Karane inquired.

Still giggling, I pointed towards Link. Now he really began to turn red. Karane couldn't hold it in; she joined me in fits of the giggles.

"Okay giggle sisters," Talon said. "Time to go."

Karane and I climbed into the passenger bench on the sliegh.

"Huh," Talon yelled, slapping the reigns.

The sleigh began to move forward as sleepiness began to tug at my eyes. My head drooped onto Orielle's shoulder and I dozed off.

"Zelda, Zelda, wake up," someone said as if from a far distance away.  
My eyes slowly creeped open, and the image of Karane shaking me came into view. We're at the manor house, at the stables near the manor house itself.

"You sure did sleep well didn't you?" Karane said, as Orielle, herself, and me got off the bench and tramped through the snow to the manor house.

Orielle opened the door and we all stepped inside. Talon stayed outside to take care of Epona and Edona. My legs feel like jelly as I wobbled inside, taking off the three layers of cloaks Orielle had put on me. How I was able to move in these, I have no idea whatsoever. With three girls (or woman) all taking off clothes and boots, it wasn't long before the closet was full of our cloaks and boots.

"So, Zelda, what happened to you?" Karane asked me after all of us had shed our winter wear and headed back into the kitchen, which was right next to the door where I had come earlier two days earlier.

I told her everything,

"Wow Zelda, it was lucky Link found you," Karane said.

"Woopeee," I said, reflecting on it.

"You should take him out sometime."

"No."

That ended that.

"Orielle," I said. "What are we having tonight?"

"All you can eat dear," Orielle responded. "We'll just pull out a bunch of our produce, then you just make what you want."

"That sounds nice," I said, thoroughly excited.

Karane, Orielle and me raced into the kitchen to pull out the banquet.

(Out of Zelda's POV)

The woman walked through the snow covered streets, now deserted except for the occasional castle guard. She was wearing blue clothes that covered her entire body with the Sheikah eye symbol on her blouse. She mused over what she had saw today. The boy fighting the moblin, the girl taking down Bokoblins with a bow. It was easier than she supposed. Much easier. She stopped at a normal-looking house constructed entirely of white stone with a unique eye symbol carved laboriously atop the doorway. After a few moments, she opened the door. It was a brown-painted single room house, bare of all furnishings except for several cots that lined the walls. Two people, a dark-haired boy and a blonde-haired girl girl, not much older than Link and Zelda, stood there, dressed similarly as the woman was, except the girl had blonde hair, cut short,

"Good evening Serene, Sheik," she said as she walked in.

"Good evening Impa," the two responded.

"It's time to set the plan in motion ladies," Impa said.

Shiek flushed a bright red at Impa's words. Serene suppressed started to giggle, but a look from Impa silenced her instantly.

"Sheik, it's time to let the farm hand know of his destiny," Impa informed him.

"Yes, Impa," Shiek said, turned on his heel, and heading towards the door.

"Serene," Impa said.

Serene snapped to attention, as Sheik left the house.

"You're assigned the blonde girl. Keep your distance from her though. The tragedy she went through may have shattered her emotional state, which might complicate matters. When she's stable and ready, that's when you tell her of her destiny."

"Yes Impa," Serene said with a grimace.

Impa left behind them, gazing towards the north, where Hyrule Castle stood.

"Matinus, your reign is coming to an end," she cooed, walking out into the night.

...

The next few days were happy times, trying on my new dresses, playing outside making snowman and having snowball fights with Karane and some of the other farm hands. I integrated so thoroughly into the Lon Lon family that Orielle even had a nickname for me; Zella. Soon, the weekend approached, and I soon discovered that Karane had big plans for me in a very wrong way.

"ZELDA WAKE-UP!"

I jolted awake, sitting up rapidly in my bed. I nearly punched Karane in the face before I realized it was here. I sighed and looked out the window. The early morning rays of the sun were peaking in through the window, signaling that dawn had arrived.

"Karane, it's the crack of dawn," I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

"Doesn't matter, there's so much that we're doing today," she squealed in excitement.

"Ohhhh," I muttered lying back down on the comfortable bed, wishing for more shut eye.

Karane's face darkened when I didn't get up.

"Come on get up," she said in a more stern voice, pulling the blankets off the bed.

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up," I stuttered, getting to my feet and rubbing my eyes.

I stood up, stretched and started to follow Karane when I felt a tingling sensation start working it's away up my body. It began in my feet, ascended my legs, and up into my spine. I stopped walking and dread built up in my chest. _No, not now, why now, no, no, please no, why now?_ A sharp jab of pain erupted into my chest and stomach, causing me to topple over to the floor on my right side. I clutched my stomach region pain spiked spread across my entire body. Karane had gone outside the room when she finally noticed I'd stopped following her. She raced back into the room.

"Zelda!" Karane said, running to me, kneeling beside me as I lay, sprawled out on the floor on my side, clutching my stomach.

I tried to wave her off. No one was getting hurt on my watch.

"Karane leave," I said.

"What? No! What's going on Zelda?!"

"Go, I'll explain later, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hurt by what?"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. The intense pain forced my eyelids closed as I lost all control. A flash of blue light illuminated the darkness around me.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh," I yelled in intense pain.

I felt enormous amounts of energy ripping from my body, tearing at the flesh as they spiraled outward into the room. The shockwave left my body heaving, exhausted, aching, and shaking uncontrollably from head to toe.

"Zelda what happened?" Karane's voice said.

I couldn't answer; another round of energy coalsced in my stomach/chest region.

"Karane, I..."

Another wave escaped from my body, causing another wave of pain to shoot through me.

"Aaaahhhh!" I yelled in pain.

"Zelda! Focus, focus on me, okay. You'll get through this," Karane's voice said right next to me. "Focus on your voice."

_Foc...foc..uss... on..her...no..she has to leave! _My breathing became ever more labored and I could tell the worse of it was coming.

"Karane, go, get out of here, please," I pleaded.

"NO!" Karane yelled back at me. "I'm going to help you get through whatever is happening to you."

"No you don't...under...understand...

Suddenly the pain intensified and another blast erupted from me, forcing my eyes shut again. Wave upon wave of white, blue, and red magic escaped from me in rapid succession, sending shockwaves of pain through my body. My mind couldn't form cohesive thoughts anymore, too consumed with the pain. Sometime in the middle of my outburst took me into an embrace in the middle of my outbursts, unaffected by the magical shockwaves. I couldn't tell who or what it was, as the pain consumed and tormented me. After what seemed like an eternity, the shockwaves finally ceased. I felt extremely light-headed as blackness pressed itself over my eyes.

My eyes weakly forced themselves open sometime later to find a smiling Karane sitting next to me on the bed. The sun's weak rays were now fading rapidly across the horizon. I'd been out an entire day. I had a massive headache and clamped my hands to my head immediately.

"My head," I groaned.

Karane held out a cup full of Orielle's hot/chocolate stamina fruit mix.

"Drink up, or mom will be after my blood."

I leaned up against the pillow and drank the bitter mixture, feeling strength flowing back into my body. The door opened, and Orielle came in at that moment. For some reason, I felt ashamed; this was the second time I'd passed out on them in a week.

"Well, you're finally awake dear," she said in a sweet voice that put me at ease.

She came over and sat down next to Karane. I knew that they wanted answers.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, " I said weakly.

"Zelda, what happened?" Karane asked.

I locked eyes with Orielle. She nodded at me.

"Well, what you just saw was one of my outbursts," I said.

"Outbursts?" Orielle repeated.

"Outbursts," I said. "I've had them happen since I was four. It's magic, it somehow builds in my body, then it comes out violently like that. Sometimes I can control it, sometimes not, if I detect them early enough. It might have been the excitement of the day and the blizzard...I don't know. It doesn't happen often though; this is actually my first one in almost a year."

Orielle and Karane looked at each other with strange looks upon their faces. Was it disbelief or wonder?

"Continue," Orielle said.

"I can't control it. I don't know why it does that or even what it is, or how I got it. The only thing I can do with it is twirl and it forms some sort of shield around me. The shaman of my village called it 'Nayru's Love', whatever that means."

Karane and Orielle eyes' where now as wide as grapefruits.

"Please, you'll know all of my many secrets in due time," I pleaded, desperate for them to understand.

To my surprise, Karane and Orielle both gave me more bone-crushing hugs. Luckily these were shorter than the last ones they gave me

"No problem Zelda," Orielle said after about a minute, getting off the bed and letting me go. "I need to go and tell Talon what is happening. Karane, watch Zelda for me please."

"Yes mother."

Orielle left the room, closing the door behind her. I had many questions for her as well.

"Karane, how did you survive my outbursts unscathed?"

Karane looked at the wall for a few moments, as if trying to decide how much to tell me.

"Zelda, we're part Sheikah."

It took a few minutes for the full impact of that statement to sink in.

"You're part what?!"

"Sheikah. Guardians of the R...of the bloodline of the Goddess Hylia for generations."

"But they're extinct."

"No we're not. Then my grandmother never existed Zelda. My grandmother was a high-ranking member of the tribe before she met and fell in love with my grandfather. It seems most of her abilities trickled down the generations to me. I seem to have immunity to some types of magic, notably those associated with Hylia's bloodline."

I simply sat in shock. Karane took both of my hands in hers.

"Zelda, you must never tell anyone our family secret. Promise me you will never tell anyone our secret, Mara."

I was still in shock, but I nodded.

"I will, but, please also keep my powers a secret as well," I pleaded. "I just want to be..to..be..normal in everyone's eyes for once. It wasn't that way back in Mordon. I was treated different from everybody else, although they still let me play with them. Isolated in my room for weeks after each outburst, everyone knew. Yet, I still loved them and my time there were still some of the greatest time of my life. I know, it's confusing, I get it. Please just do as I ask."

Karane looked down for a moment then back up at me.

"Zelda, I can teach you how to control your powers."*

My jaw dropped to the floor.

"You're kidding?"

"No I'm not. My grandmother taught me the ways of the Sheikah Z..."

I didn't give her time to finish her sentence. I hugged her.

"Oh..thanks Kar..."

'CRASH'

Me and Karane were both sprawled out on the floor, my momentum having carried both of us off the bed. My forgotten headache doubled in size

"Ooohhhh," I moaned in pain. grasping my head again.

Karane got up, and helped me back into my bed.

"Zelda, consider yourself a Lon Lon now," she said as I slithered under the covers. "You get to sleep. We'll discuss this tomorrow.:

"Good night sister," she said to me.

"Good night sis," I responded.

She left my side and exhuished the lantern on her way out. I smiled before sleep finally claimed me; I was home at last.

**Notes**

***I base this off of that when Princess Zelda is brought up by Sheikah (the one I'm referring to is the Princess Zelda in Ocarina of Time) she has exceptional abilities, both physical and magical. She'd have to start somewhere to learn to control her abilities, which gave me the idea for the outburst scene and having Karane teach Zelda how to control her abilities. **

**4,500 words wow. Review please if you want the story to get even better. **


	5. Chapter 4-The Scroll

I do not own the Legend of Zelda

Please Review. They make the story even better.

Chapter 4-The Scroll

Later that day...

(Outside Zelda's POV)

Link watched the Lon Lon's sleigh drive off, heart heavy as the sleigh went towards Lon Lon Ranch. He turned on his heel, and slipped across the icy wooden drawbridge into the Royal City. Everywhere he looked, Castle Town was a war zone; medics were running to and fro tending to fallen soldiers while civilians rushed by trying to find lost loved ones or friends. Wreckage from damaged homes, carts, and businesses lay in the streets and alleyways, blocking some of them off. Link dodged around the blockages until he reached the northern suburbs, where he lived. *

His mind was elsewhere during all this; it was still back at the stables where he'd said goodbye to the new girl of his dreams. He rubbed his eyes in frustration, trying to get her unplastered from his eyelids, but he couldn't. Her ocean-blue eyes, waist-long golden blonde hair, and intoxicating smile, just kept drawing him in. She was different from all the other girls he had met before. But there was just one reason that kept haunting him, showing up when illusions of her invaded his mind.

Place and time. Place and time. Out of all the people she could've ended up with, it was with his employers. The Lon Lons had been his most steady employment for as long as he could remember. Courting their newly adopted daughter and potentially upsetting them wasn't in his plans. But how could he do it without getting fire?

"Hey, where are you..."

Link jerked out of his thoughts just in time to see blue, before walking right into someone. He saw the snow rising quickly to meet him as he and another boy crashed to the ground, having walked right into each other. Both boys laid sprawled out some feet apart, on their stomach having tripped over each others legs. Facing flushing with embarrassment, Link got to feet and saw a boy about his age, slightly taller with brown hair and brown eyes as compared to Link's blue eyes and sandy-blonde hair. He wore a blue outfit, except for his shirt, which was white and had a red eye embroidered onto the front of his shirt with a single teardrop on top of the eye.

"Watch where you're going Link," the lithe figure said, looking at him.

"Sorry about that but I," Link started to reply, helping the other boy get up, brushing snow off of his green outfit. "But...wait, how do you know my name."

"Not too difficult," the boy said, avoiding the question.

"Who are you?" Link said, a little taken aback, fingering his sword.

"My name is Sheik, a member of the Shiekah tribe, Link."

"How do you know my name?" Link asked again, backing away from the strange blue-clad boy, hand on the hilt of his blade.

"Link, the name that all Heroes of Hyrule have borne for generations since the first descended from the sky. Not that hard to guess, Hero."

"Why do you keep calling me 'Hero'?" Link asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion..

"Because you are the next Hero," Sheik said as if they were discussing the matter over drinks."Like the Hero of Time, and Twilight."

It took a few minutes for this statement to sink in.

"I'm sorry, but this is crazy," Link said in disbelief, trying to keep his cool. "Are you sure your mentally stable?"

"Nope, I'm not nuts," Sheik said, laughing. "You want proof, take a look at the back of your left hand."

Link brought his left hand up to eye level, his attention attracted by a faint golden light emanating from the back of his hand. It was a three triangle pattern, with the lower right triangle illuminated more brightly than the rest.

"You have the Triforce of Courage that belongs to the Hero, Link. That is your destiny to bear."

Link recoiled for a moment, mind filled with a million questions.

"Let me tell you a bit more, and if you don't like it, you can just walk away," Shiek said, a comforting smile on his face.

"What do you want to tell me?" Link asked, knowing only one thing.

The Shiekah always have the answers.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

(Zelda's POV again)

The next day dawned a weak winter sun over the snow-laden fields of Hyrule. I bounded down the stairs in a navy blue dress, sitting down in my traditional chair to find Orielle and Karane already digging into bowls of porridge. Karane today was dressed in a periwinkle blue dress, while Orielle was in white dress today. Talon was wearing his Lon Lon outfit that he was wearing when I first arrived at the ranch. My bowl was already laid out full of porridge ready to be eaten. Talon already finished his breakfast and had an newspaper unfolded in front of him. As I poured sugar into my bowl, my I saw a picture of a raging Bokoblin on the front page and, accompanied by the bold headline;

**"Mayhem in Castle Town; Bokoblins rage across the city!"**

_Bokoblins raged across the city yesterday...destroying homes ravaging markets..Royal Guard corralled and wiped them out...King has no comment...lawless mob...disorder...people demand compensation and action...protests turn violent... _where a few of the lines I read on the front page.

"Ewww," I said. "Not a very good report today isn't there."

"Nope," Talon said from behind his newspaper. "The King has summoned all the nobles to the castle to discuss the problem. He wants to talk to me tomorrow about food supplies and providing security around the ranch."

"Really?" I said surprised.

I had no idea, despite living under his roof that Talon was so important. I dug into my porridge as Talon continued to read the newspaper. After a few minutes, during which I downed most of my breakfast, I broke the silence again.

"So, Karane, when do you want to go and play in the snow today?" I asked cryptically, directing my gaze at Karane.

"After breakfast," Karane said, without looking at me, still ladling porridge into her mouth (after she had spoken of course).

"Play in the snow?" Orielle said, looking up from her breakfast surprised. "You never like to play in the snow."

I guess coming up with cover stories wasn't one of Karane's strong points. I threw her a panicked look.

"Of course mom," Karane assured her, giving her mom her full and undivided attention. "But Zelda here does, doesn't she?"

"What? Oh, of course I do," I said, catching on.

Orielle smiled broadly; the type of smile that mothers get when they know their children are concealing something.

"Karane, it's time to confess," she said. "You don't like to play in the snow, neither has Zelda given any indication since she had arrived her that she likes to either. What is it that you actually plan to do?"

I was completely taken by surprise; how could Orielle have known what we were going to do? I folded my arms and looked furiously look at Karane. Orielle's grin widened as she watched the exchange.

"So, Karane," she said. "What is it that you were going to do?"

Karane looked at me, a sad look on her face, then confessed.

"I was going to help Zelda learn how to control her magic by teaching her how to use it," Karane confessed, awaiting the blow.

"Then just be careful then," Orielle said. "Don't let anyone see you. Karane, don't keep it secret from us either. Your grandmother was my mother, you should remember that."

"Yes mom," Karane said, a look of relief on her face.

"That goes for you too Zelda."

"Yes, mom," I said absentmindedly.

Talon folded up his newspaper, Karane dropped her spoon into her bowl of porridge with a 'clunk', and Orielle looked at me with that same smile on her face.

"What?" I said, feeling my face turning pink.

"Nothing, it just you called Orielle 'mom'," Talon said with an approving smile. "I figured that would happen eventually."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I mean..."

"It's okay Zelda," Karane said. "It means you're becoming one of the family."

My blushing quickly subsided as Talon buried his nose in his newspaper again and Orielle and Karane dug into their breakfast. After the bowls were empty, utensils cleaned, and the table cleared. Karane and I dressed up in our snow gear (Orielle again made me put on three layers along with drinking three cups of her signature mix, still worried about my health after my sojourn in the blizzard nearly three weeks ago) we tramped out through the snow into the lane in front of the manor house. Right after we cleared the land, Karane pointed to the west of us.

Many trees, mostly evergreens, dotted the field out in that direction, forming an impenetrable barrier that no one could see through.

"I used to play with my cousins in and among those trees," she said.

I gave her a 'what' look.

"That was a while ago. It's were I think we can practice your magic without any interference."

"Okay, well, let's go," I said with trepidation and some excitement.

_I'm finally learning how to control my magic! _We marched through the snow into the trees until we couldn't see the manor house. Karane turned to face me, her hands on her hips, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes.

"So Zelda, I did some research in some old books my grandmother gave me and thought a lot overnight about what I saw during your um, outburst, and I think I might know how you can learn control your magic."

"How?" I asked, excitement building in my chest.

"I need give you a short history lesson first Zelda, and explain about your powers first before I can come to that."

"Okay," I said a little impatiently.

"First Zelda, magic is a dark and mysterious force that we really know little about."

"Okay," I said, failing to see how this was relevant.

"So therefore, it has to be treated with caution. But luckily Zelda, your brand of magic has a counterpart which is relatively famous."

"What's that?" I asked, amazed that there are others like me.

"Princess Zelda's magical abilities," she said with a smile.

"What?"

"Many princesses of the previous Royal Family of Hyrule, before Matinus is what I mean, had magical abilities that were well documented by Sheikah sources. All of them bore your name, Zelda as well. Yours are similar to theirs Zella. So, the techniques that those Shiekah used to help the princesses control their magic will hopefully work best for you too." *

My excitement is threatening to burst through the roof now. But a question quickly enters my mind.

"If my powers are somehow related to the Royal Family of Hyrule, does that mean I'm related to them in some way?" I asked, curious.

"Most likely not Zelda. The Royal Family warred among themselves until they were all wiped out and Matinus's ancestors then took the throne. So, unless some branch escaped, which is unlikely, I don't think so. Keep in mind, there have been many magic users throughout Hyrule's history, both good and bad."

"Okay."

"So, now we get to the 'how'. I believe you need to use your magic to learn how to control it."

_Contain it, hold it in, don't let it show, keep it secret_ reverberated throughout my mind. Those are the words my mother always spoke to me about my powers. This suggested course of action goes against everything that I've been taught.

"Okay," I said, being silent, keeping my doubts inside.

"So, I've decided to teach you two more moves in addition to Nayru's Love. They're ancient moves my grandmother taught me about. They're called Din's Fire and Farore's Wind."

"Din's Fire, and Farore's Wind," I repeated, entombing them into my mind.

"Today we'll start with Din's Fire," Karane said. "If done right, it'll produce a large fireball which the user can then control. It'll go whichever direction you want and you can explode it whenever you want."

"Sounds epic," I said, amazed.

"Start by holding your hands out in front of you Zelda, then channel your power into your hands. Go on, try it. No, like this."

Feeling quite foolish, I'd extended my arms in front of me, but Karane moved them so it looked like I was holding an imaginary ball.

"Good. Now, close your eyes and imagine a fireball in your hands."

I did as she directed and felt my body temperature drop throughout my body. A cool current, kinda what a heartbeat feels like, began to course through my body. It started in my stomach then worked its way up my spinal column, to my hands. Heat emanated from my hands, causing me to open my eyes in shock. A small red ball was floating in my hands, flame strands clearly visible in the red sphere.

"Good job Zelda," Karane said, delighted. "You're learning faster than I thought you would. Let it go and try to control it."

"Are...are...you sure?" I asked warily.

"Yes Zella, I'm sure."

I closed my eyes, drew a lot of air into my lungs, and let the fireball go. It quickly went of out of my control and flew into a snow bank. It vaporized in a spectacular mini-explosion, creating a mini snowstorm, the flake drifting lazily back down to the ground.

"There's my problem," I said, disgusted. "No control."

"Patience Zelda," Karane said. "Try again. Practice, that's what will enable you to learn control."

But after an hour of more practice and spectacular fireworks, there was no more progress. My frustration was building with each failed attempt, especially as the magic sapped my physical stamina. Eventually Karane noticed me my deteriorating physical condition, as my reacitons became slower and my eyelids started to droop.

"Enough for today Zelda," Karane said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," I said. "My powers are somehow connected to my emotions and physical stamina. When I use, they deplete me. Boy am I bushed."

It was true; I every inch of my body cried for a nap, although it was still early in the morning.

"Well, let's go back to the house then," Karane suggested. "There you can get some rest. I'm also expecting a visit from Malon today."

"Malon?" I asked. "Wait, do you mean the woman who own's Malon's Womanwear?"

"Not exactly," Karane said. "Her daughter, my age and my best friend. I want to introduce you to her. You'll like her."

"I'm sure I will," I said sarcastically. "I'm rather shy as you probably know by now."

"She's fine Zella," Karane said, rapidly getting into the habit of using my new nickname. "You'll like her, I guarantee it."

When we got back inside and had unbundled, I headed straight for my bed, thoroughly exhausted. Karane watched me go, exhausted step with exhausted step with a small smile on her face. As soon as I was on the bed I blacked out.

'WHAP'

"Whuzzauppppp," I muttered, my body begging for more sleep.

"Get up sleepy-eyed," said a slightly familiar voice.

My eyes, very groggery, opened to show another teenaged girl, about my age. She had shoulder-length silky black hair, misty blue eyes, and was wearing a velvet red dress.  
"Malon I guess," I said, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, and sitting up on my bed.

"You're right," the girl said giggling. "Named after my grandmother, and my mother."

"Oh," I said. "I was named after the princesses that had ruled Hyrule so gracefully in the past."

"Her current name," Karane chimed in. "Her earlier name was Mara."

"She no longer exists Karane," I retorted.

"She doesn't?" Malon said, confused.

I rolled my eyes; I was in no mode for a full explanation.

"It's a long story and one that I'm not into telling," I responded. "So, how's the store doing?"

"Absolutely amazing," Malon said, bubbling with excitement. "We recently received a load of 200 new dresses. I'm so excited."

She let out a couple of squeals.

"She loves to try on dresses," Karane informed me in an undertone.

"How bout some hot chocolate?" I suggested on a whim.

This was met with squeals of approval from the two girls. I bounded down the stairs to the kitchen to start heating the water.

xxxxxxxxx

Several hours later, the three of were lying on my bed, giggling like a bunch of young schoolgirls. Malon had completely adopted me as one of her friends and we'd been talking giggling for hours like old friends. It didn't help that Malon kept the two of us entertained with stories of her last boyfriend who went to such extremes to win her favor that he ended up face first in a pigpen at her feet. We giggled for what seemed like hours on end.

"So, Malon," Karane finally said after we had subdued our giggles, not an easy task. "What is it that you so badly wanted to show me?"

"This," Malon said, getting off the bed and pulling a scroll from out of a bag she hung on one of the four bedposts that ringed my bed.

"Oh," Karane said, a little crestfallen.

She unrolled it to its full length.

"I can't read these symbols, nor can anyone else I've asked so far," Malon explained. "I was wondering if you knew anybody who could."

Me and KArane took a close look at the scroll. The document had unique symbols, ancient-looking symbols that filled the entire scroll. It wasn't difficult at all for me to read.

"A History of the Destruction of the Royal Family of Hyrule," I read from the top line of the scroll.

Both Malon and Karane jumped, Malon falling off the bed.

"Did you just read that?" Malon said, stunned, reappearing rapidly.

"Yes," I said. "Back in Kakariko Village, when I attended school, my teacher was one of the last who knew how to read Ancient Hylian. She tried to teach is to us, but few could read it. I caught on really quickly, so she taught me personally. I can read it fluently."

"You're amazing," Malon said, impressed.

I blushed a bright pink, trying not to look too pleased with myself.

"Well, what does it say?" Karane asked excited.

Karane laid the scroll down on the bed facing me. I leaned close to the scroll to get a better look at the first sentence or row of symbols.

"The history of Hyrule, dating from the Hero of Time down to the present day," I read., pausing briefly to decipher some of the more difficult glyphs. "Go on," Malon urged.

But my eyebrows went up instead.

"What is it Zella?" Karane asked.

"'Top Secret; Eyes for the new King only'. How did you get this?" I asked Malon, stunned.

"In a trash can behind Hyrule Castle," Malon explained. "You won't believe all the valuable stuff they throw out."

"Ok," I said, a little astonished and amused at the same time.

"Well, it's clear they didn't view it as of importance anymore," I said. Well here goes..."

For the next half hour I read out the account, which turned out to be overflowing with vulgar language and other pleasantries. Several lines stood out to me;

_...King Matinus's I forces surrounded and slew the Royal Family of Hyrule in cold blood, leaving their bodies among the thousands who had fallen in their defense. No one was spared not even the daughters. Yet, several of the Royal Family members vanished and their fates are unknown to this day._

When I was done, we were all stunned; this wasn't even close to what we had been taught in school.

"Well, that makes Matinus's ancestors sound like a peace club, doesn't it?" I commented when I had finished.

"It doesn't make sense," Malon said. "That's not what actually happened."

"We don't know what actually happened," Karane pointed out. "We weren't there a hundred years ago when these events took place. All we know is what we've been taught, which is that Royal Family wiped themselves out through infighting. Then, Matinus I, the current King's father, took the throne."

I peered down the scroll, and looked at the last line which was at the bottom.

"Strange," I said. "This line is written after the original document was written."

"How do you know?" Malon asked, looking at where I was looking.

"Slight difference in the writing style itself, it's the same language but of a later date," I said. "And easier to read by far. Most of the script was difficult."

"What does it say?" Karane asked.

"_Darkness shall cover the land again. Fear not, for it is then that she that bears the Triforce of Wisdom and those chosen by fate, shall arise as from the dust, and restore a ray of light that shall lift the darkness from the land."_

"Interesting passage," Karane said. "Sounds like a prophercy of some kind."

"Yeah, it, it, just doesn't make sense," Malon said. "'Darkness, cover the land again, she who bears the Triforce of Wisdom, restore a ray of light' what does that mean?"

"No idea," I added, thinking hard, biting my lip. "It may have already been fulfilled, when light triumphanted over darkness in Hyrule's past."

I just shook my head; the passage made no sense whatsoever.

"Well," Malon said. "It doesn't really matter anyways. History can forget, like it always has done."

She took the scroll back and rolled it up.

"Malon," I said. "You sure do make interesting finds. Do you have anything else like this I can translate for you?"

"Loads," she said excited. "My dad is an amateur archeologist. You won't believe his collection."

"Well, I'll be happy to help you in anyway possible."

"Oh Zella, you will?" she said, enrapping me in a tight hug.

"Of course."

"Thanks Zelda."

She let go of me.

"Malon, time to go," comes from downstairs.

"Oh, its time to go," Malon said, grabbing her cloak, giving us each another hug then going downstairs, closing the door behind her.

When she'd gone, Karane fixed me with an interesting look.

"Zelda, do you know what this means?" she asked.

"No," I said, completely bewildered.

"It means Matinus is an usurper," she said.

I rolled my eyes and looked away from Karane, out my window and the wintry landscape outside.

"Karane, we have no proof whatsoever except a stupid scroll no one can read. And besides, what can we do about it? And what about the last line at the bottom? We probably should be focusing on that rather than history which anyone can tamper with."

"I know Zelda," Karane replied. "But we have to. It our duty. We'll keep it a secret between me, you, and Malon, she's trustworthy. For now, I reccomend we head down to our parent's library tomorrow and see what we can look up. Maybe a course of action will come to us."

I directed my gaze down at the floor for a few seconds, before locking eyes with Karane, who's now sitting across the bed from me.

"You don't get it, do you Karane?" I said in a serious voice.

"Get what?" she asked, now confused.

I held up the back of my right at our eye level. A three triangle pattern was faintly visible on the back of my hand, the lower left triangle illuminated.

"This appeared two weeks ago," I said. "I haven't been able to get rid of it at all, and I haven't found any answers anywhere."

Karane leaned towards and studied the pattern faintly glowing on the back of my hand.

"It's the symbol of the Triforce of Wisdom," she said. "Zelda, how did this appear?"

"Not to long after I arrived," and I related to her the weird experience I'd had the night after I got back to the manor house.

She looked at me then left the room, returning a few minutes later with a well-worn book which she laid down on my bed, and threw open to a page with the symbol of what was on the back of my hand. She looked at me carefully.

"Zella, something's going to happen," Karane said. "I just don't know what. The Triforce piece of Wisdom when shattered.."

"Shattered?" I repeated.

"It's an old Shiekah legend. The Triforce grants whoever possesses it his/her unbridled wish, whether it be good or bad. However, the Triforce has some sort of built-in safety mechanism."

"Like what?" I asked.

She looked down at her book, and read aloud from one of the pages.

"A person must have all three qualities in equal abundance to use the Triforce; courage, wisdom, and power. If off-balance, the Triforce will shatter into its three components, leaving the one who went after it with what they own the most. The other two will seek out and bond with individuals who own that trait which it values the most."

"And?"

She looked up at me briefly, then resumed reading.

"'Wisdom, traditionally favored princesses of the original Royal Family of Hyrule'".

Karane closed the book.

"But besides the point Zelda. Someone has shattered the Triforce, and only we and at least two other people know about it. We must find out why soon. The safety of Hyrule may hang in the balance."

"But where do we start?" I asked, resigning myself to the worse.

Karane looked out my wintry library. She paced the floor, walking back and forth until the gears in her brain whizzing at a mind-blowing pace.

"Well, if the person who has shattered it has evil intentions, they haven't acted yet, which suggests it may take sometime for them to complete their plan. We don't even know where the pieces went, except for yours of course. So, I think we should start where the Triforce is said to have lain undisturbed for millenia."

"Where? I said, recalling the legend.  
"The Temple of Time," Karane said. "It's in front of Hyrule Castle, in the middle of Castle Town. It's open to tours. I'll get a lift from my parents tomorrow and we'll go and take a tour of the building to see what we can find, if anything."

She took my hands, covering my markwith her own hand.

"No matter what happens Zelda," she said, looking me in the eye. "We're in it together till the end. Don't ever forget that."

I looked at her with tears leaking out of my eyes.

"Yes, I won't," I promised.

We embraced in a bone-crushing hug which I didn't mind at all.

"So, tomorrow," Karane said. "I'll try to get us a ride there, but we should visit Malon first. She will be of some help."

"Okay," I said.

"Let's get to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Karane said, giggling.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Link raised the green medallion to the sky in triumphant, sweat running off his forehead, many cuts bleeding on his arms and body. He couldn't believe it; he had done it.

"Good job Link," said a voice behind him.

Link spun around to see Sheik behind him, a rare grin on his face.

"Now," he said. "We'll go and put this in the Temple of Time. Meanwhile Link, study your skills and wait for destiny to give you your next assignment."

***I'm covering primarily Zelda's point of view and her adventures, but I do intend to insert more Link into this story in the future. **

***This is guesswork, as the video games really don't devote much attention to time periods in which Princess Zelda was being trained by Shiekah. **


	6. Chapter 5-Temple of Time

**This chapters is dedicated to Joystick Gamer, my first reviewer.**

PLEASE REVIEW SO THAT THIS STORY MIGHT BE BETTER!

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Foreword; The Temple of Time in this building is a mixture of the one that appeared in Ocarina of Time and modern-day church buildings. Also, a room similar to the Chamber of Sages will also appears. And I've experienced some writer's block recently so on this chapter, so it might not be as good as the ones that have come before it.

Chapter 5-Temple of Time

"Come on Zelda, wake up, wake up," came from right next to my ear.

I jolted awake, sitting straight up in my bed.

"Karane!," I said. "Why do you have to do that?"

"Sorry Zelda," came her voice. "It's what I like to do."

Her face swam into view as my sleep-deprived eyes slowly opened.

"Come on, its time to go to the Temple of Time," she said, excited.

Karane had on blue dress, with a velvet snow cloak on top, and her black winter boots. Her brown hair was in an elaborate bun at the back of her head. I looked at the window and saw the sun peaking across the snow-locked Faron Woods to the east. It was just after dawn.

"Karane, this time it's just _after_ the crack of dawn," I said, irritated.

"Papa is going to meet with the King today, and we're going to the Temple of Time. He said we had to be up bright and early," Karane explained, excitement in her voice.

She squealed with delight.

"I'm sure 'bright and early' didn't mean the crack of dawn."

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before she pulled the covers off of me.

"Time to get up," she said in a stern voice, throwing my blankets to the floor.

She skipped out of the room (how can she do that in boots?) and closed the door behind her. I got up, my destroyed blonde hair covering my face and my eyes. I pushed it out of my eyes and walked like a zombie from my bed. I went to my closet, rummaging through the dresses. I ended up choosing a light blue skirt and a blue blouse instead of a traveling dress, choosing to bear the discomfort of the cold, which I had to do all the time living in the Faron Woods which had violent storms quite often.

I tamed my wild hair, choosing just to let it flow freely down my back without any elaborate get up, except to arrange my two small strands near my face in the way I did in back in the Castle Town fiasco. I slipped down the stairs sometime later to find no bowls or breakfast on the table. Instead, everyone was waiting for me by the door near the kitchen, fully dressed in their winter gear.

"What's going on?" I asked, a bit bewildered.

"We're going into Castle Town again," Orielle informed me. "We're going to eat breakfast at an eatery* in town. Then we'll take you two and Malon to the Temple of Time while Talon meets with the King."

About an hour later we were walking (or sliding) across the ice-bound into town. In the main square just inside the city gates, was Malon, already dressed up in a red snow cloak that had 'MW' embroidered on it in gold letters.

"Malon," Karaen yelled, waving."

"Karane, Zelda, nice to see you again," Malon said, running to each of us and giving us hugs.

"Hi, Orielle, Talon," she said, addressing our parents.

"How did she know where we were coming?" I asked Karane.

"Mail," Malon said, filling us in. "It travels extremely fast in Hyrule."

"I posted a letter late last night before I went to bed," Karane explained.

"Oh," I said, surprised.

"We're off to Malon's Eatery," Karane said.

"How many shops does your family own Malon?" I asked, amazed.

"Too many," Malon said. "We have a small empire, if you want to call it that. At least one shop in every town. I plan to downsize when I take over the family business."

Our eyes took in the streets of Castle Town as we walked deeper into the city. The wreckage had been mostly cleared, thrown into piles in the middle of the streets, waiting to be properly disposed of.

"Wow, they've sure cleaned up fast," I said.

"Yeah," Talon said. "If they didn't, the King would lose a lot of support."

We went into Malon's Eatery where they (the staff) served us a large breakfast of pancakes and syrup. Afterwards, the entire group went outside.

"You girls have fun at the Temple of Time," Talon informed us. "Tours start about now."

Talon went across the street towards Hyrule Castle, while Orielle led us towards the Temple of Time. It was a magnificent, three steeple brick building near Hyrule Castle. In the courtyard that had beautifully manicured gardens lining a cobblestone path that lead up to the entrance. Waiting there, shivering in the cold, was a young woman in a blue blouse and an orange skirt. Her hair was brown hair, as were her eyes and she was a head shorter than me, about Malon's height. Her blue blouse had "Staff" embroidered on the front of it in white. She gave us a false smile when she saw our small group.

"Welcome to the Temple of Time," she said in a sweet voice. "Are you here for the tour?"

"Yes we are," Orielle said.

"So, this is the plan, look at everything, check every inch of the building," Karane told the two of us in a whisper.

"Got it," me and Malon said together.

"Malon, Karane, Zelda, time to go," we heard from ahead of us.

"Okay mom," me and Karane said together.

"You've switched fully to mom, haven't you noticed?" Karane prodded, as we walked through the pillars that flanked the large door that led inside.

"Of course," I said. "I can't keep on calling her 'Orielle' forever. Besides, you guys okayed it last night."

The tour guide led us through the giant marble doors into the temple itself. I gasped in awe as we walked in. It was huge; it's marble ceiling rivaling the height of the tallest trees in the Faron Woods. Red cushion benches filled the chapel, big enough to hold at least 3,000 people. The white marble walls had enormous stained-glass windows filled with scenes from Hyrule's history, everything from the dawn of the kingdom to the Hero of Twilight. And directly ahead of us was a raised platform with an extra row of seats I assumed were for the priests who officiated here. I looked back at Karane and Malon, who were taking it all in. Both were examining every inch of the edifice with their eyes.

"What are we looking for exactly?" I asked in an undertone.

"Clues to the previous Temple of Time," she whispered.

"Previous?" I repeated, a little confused.

"Yes, there.."

"Karane, Zelda, Malon, we're moving on," Orielle called.

"Later," Karane said to me, and Malon, who I just realized had listening in.

xxxxx

(Out of Zelda's POV)

Link and Shiek didn't even bother to listen to the tour guide, now entering Temple of Time. Both boys were impatient, but trying not to show it. Link cast a brief glimpse ahead when he saw something that made his heart flutter. A girl, about his height with waist-long blonde hair was standing several paces in front of him with another tour group. Could it be...She turned around to talk to a brown-haired girl and Link's heart leaped into his throat. It was Zelda! What was she doing here? She couldn't have turned up at a worse time.

Shiek seemed to read Link's mind.

"Focus Hero," he whispered into Link's ear. "You can go after your crush later. We need to deliver that medallion first."  
"Sorry," Link said, then added in a pleading voice. "What if she makes it really difficult?"

Shiek rolled his eyes.

"Then don't look at her," he whispered sternly.

"What if her ocean-blue eyes distracting me?" Link added out of nowhere.

Shiek resisted the urge to slap the hapless Hero in the face. He pulled a small pin out from his belt and showed it to Link.

"This is what is called a sleeper pin. It knocks people out for five to twenty minutes. Fine, if you want, I'll knock you out and we'll wait till she's gone, that'll solve your problem."

Link didn't like the sound of it. It took everything he had to avoid looking at the girl who had stolen his heart.

xxxxxxxxxxx

(Back to Zelda's POV)

We moved on deeper into the building towards the altar itself.

"This is where the priests hold the services in honor of the Goddesses," the tour guide said in a bored monotone. "You are now free to go anywhere in here except the stage area."

"Girls, stay close," Orielle said, a note of suspicion in her voice.

"Don't worry, we will," Karane said.

"Orielle," said a voice nearby.

"Kristen," Orielle said, pleasantly surprised and they immediately got into a conversation.

"Just what we've been waiting for," Karane said. "Spread out, look for signs of anything that's unusual."

Me, Malon, and Karane spread out over the Temple seats, examining the benches, all while trying to act casual. We did this for about twenty minutes until someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Karane founds something," Malon said in an excited voice.

She grabbed my hand and lead me to where Karane was standing.

"Look," she said pointing at the ground.

Carved into where the bench met the floor, so cleverly hidden that no one with an untrained eye could see it, was the Shiekah eye-teardrop symbol.

"Hurry," I said, acting as the lookout, casting occasional looks over my shoulder at where Orielle and Kirsten were talking. "Orielle and the tour guide both look like they're ready to move on to the next part of the Temple."

"It looks like a button," Malon said, ignoring me, giving the carving a kick.

"No, Mal..." Karane said.

A massive white light erupted right in front of the three of us. In prefect sync, I felt a burst of magic erupt from me at the same time, causing pain to shoot through my body, and I felt my knees buckle beneath me. I collapsed to the floor, grimacing as the pain reverberated throughout my body.

"ZELDA!" I heard Malon and Karane yell as I collapsed to the floor.

Orielle was at my side in an instant.

"Are you alright Zelda?" she asked, feeling my head as the pain slowly receded.

"Yes," I said, getting up gingerly. "I'm fine."

She didn't pronounce me okay until she had done a complete check-over.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but we'll have you checked out when we're done," Orielle said.

"What happened?" Malon asked.

"We'll discuss it later," I whispered to them.

The five of us followed the tour guide, who now had a concerned look on her face, towards the stage area of the temple.

xxxxx

(Out of Zelda's POV)

Only Link and Shiek saw and understood what had actually happened. Link tried to rush to Zelda's aid, but Shiek grabbed the back of his tunic.

"Easy Hero," he whispered. "Patience. She has plenty of people to attend to her."

"She's hurt, how am I supposed to have patience?" Link protested.

Shiek resisted another urge to slap him across the face or poke him with the sleeper pin, although it would make it a lot easier.

"She's fine; her magic reacted with a special device that my ancestors put there to let the priests know when...certain people arrive. We're both going to the same place, just trust me," Shiek said in a stern voice. "You'll get to talk to her then as long as you like."

Link stopped struggling to get away, finally deciding to put his trust in his Shiekah guide.

_He's learning, _Shiek thought, inwardly smiling.

xxxxxxx

Our tour guide lead us onto the stage, pass the altar and through a small stone door to a another chamber that had no furnishings. There was a small square box in the middle of the room, big enough to hold a sword.

"This is where the Master Sword was for centuries until the last Hero hid it in a place only he knew," the tour guide explained. "He was compelled to do it by the greed of the previous Royal Family..."

This is were Malon, I, and Karane zoned out with our 'glazed over' looks that school teachers commonly receive without noticing. We had stopped believing in the regime's claims as of yesterday after we read the scroll. Instead, we become interested in the stone wall behind the small square box. To the normal eye, it was just a wall, but to trained eyes (well, kind of) like ours, who'd seen the Shiekah symbol, it was cleverly hidden within the bricks/stones that made up the wall.

"Look," Karane whispered to the two of us. "Do you guys see it?"

"Yes," me and Malon responded together in a whisper.

"I wonder how it got here?" I wondered.

"Probably because the Shiekah had infiltrated the workers," I suggested.

"A possiblity," Malon noted.

"Hey you three," Orielle called over her shoulder. "Quiet down."

"Sorry," the three of us chorused together.

The three of us ventured up the wall, like everybody else and examined the brick work more closely. I'd just touched it when I felt the floor vanish from beneath my feet.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" the three of us shouted as we plunged down a chute.

"Karane, Malon, Zelda!" I heard Orielle shout.

We plunged into darkness, the chute curving and twisting as it went down deeper. I swear our screams echoing in the tube, could be heard all the way back up at the surface.

"Ooofff," I said as I finally came to a stop on something soft, feeling someone slam into me, sending pain shooting up my body.

"Aaaahhh," came from behind the two of us. _Karane!_

Both of us tried to run, but Karane slammed into both of us before we could go far, throwing both of us down again.

"KARANE!" me and Malon said.

"Sorry," Karane said.

The three of us said nothing for a few minutes, nursing our minor injuries.

"What happened?" I finally said.

"You touched the wall, which activated a trapdoor which we happened to be standing on," Malon chimed in.

As if in response to her comment, torches flickered into life all around us, as if a ghost was lighting them. Their light revealed that we were in a small, dank, stone-lined chamber with some sort of soft padding we were all lying on.

"Aaahh," I said, shuddering. "This is getting creepier by the minute."

"Well, we only have one option," Karane said, taking charge.

She pointed to a staircase that lead out of the chamber.

"It's a start," Malon said, leading us up the staircase.

Around thirty minutes later there was no sign of the surface, just staircase after staircase after staircase. Our legs were heaving and yelling at us, not used to this. Even Karane, the most athletic out of the three of us, was panting heavily.

"So," I said, finally breaking the silence. "Where do you think we are?"

As if in answer, torches sprang to life all around us revealing _another_ dank, small chamber. In the middle was skeleton, which just was a pile of bones; which quickly assembled themselves into a skeleton with a metal helmet on its ugly-looking head, and holding two nasty-looking blades in its arms. It roared at us, then began to advance.

"What is that?" I asked no one in particular.

"A Stalfos," Karane said.

"A what?" Malon repeated.

"A Stalfos, a soldier of the undead..."

"Forget it, let's run!" I shouted.

The three of us ran to the right, away from the Stalfos and finding a staircase, ran up it with ugly in hot pursuit.

We started climbing as fast as our feet could carry us, until we reached an upper chamber with no exit.

"We're trapped," Malon said, stating the obvious.

I looked down at our feet and spotted _weapons. How do weapons magically appear when you need them?_

"Malon, Karane, look," I said pointing directly in front of me.

There was a quiver full of arrows, a faded golden bow, a belt full of knives, and a sword there. I grabbed the bow and the quiver of arrows; Karane grabbed the belt of knives while Malon grabbed the sword. I examined the bow; it was a faded gold color, very strong, and it perfectly fitted into my hands. I placed an arrow in the string, and aimed for the skeleton's eye socket, putting an arrow in its eye. It stumbled backwards, roaring in pain. Malon, who'd hadn't been told of this ability, gasped in shock.

"Malon, Zelda," Karane said. "I have an idea of how to stop it."

"How?" Malon and I chorused together.

"Well, first let's try to keep it off-balance, then Malon or I will sneak around and slice its spinal column, its primary weak point."

"What about me?" I interjected.

"Well, the idea was for you to do what you just did to it Zelda," Karane said. "You don't have the weapons that me and Malon did."

"Okay," Malon I said, not fully convinced the plan is going to work.

"Let's do it," I said, we having no other option.

The three of us split up to confuse the Stalfos and divert its attention. I put arrows in the bow and sent arrow after arrow flying at it, which only served to make it even angrier. It charged at me, it's ulgy footsteps sounding with a sickening crunch into the floor. I backed away as it came closer and closer...a series of knives sliced into its feet, causing it to trip and crash right in front of me. Karane stood next to me, several more knives ready. She'd just saved my life. I saw Malon meanwhile, was trying to sneak around to where the Stalfos's spinal column was, so she could finish the ugly beast off. The Stalfos changed tactics; it charged at Karane, and thrust one of its ugly blades at her, to which Karane leapt into the air. My mouth dropped open as she did a graceful cart-wheel over the blade aiming to end her life, despite being in her winter gear, and the blade embedded in the wall. The Stalfos tried and tried to pull the blade out, but it sunk so deep that the skeleton had to abandon it. Karane looked at me and I seemed to read her thoughts. _We truly are becoming sisters._

"Ready?" she said.

"Go," I shouted, putting an arrow on the bow.

We both charged at the Stalfos at once. Karane flung several knives at it while we sent, which it deflected with its reamugly blades. It plunged its lonew blade down at us several times, missing us and leaving nice impact craters in the stone floor. A near miss knocked me to my me knees, causing me to slide directly under the Staflos legs, landing on my back. Taking full advantage, I aimed the bow up and sent an arrow into its...well, you get it. It started jumping up and down, howling in pain, and lost its balance, landing on it's back.

"Malon, now!" Karane yelled.

Malon, now behind the Staflos, raced foreward and plunged her blade into its spinal column. The Staflos stopped struggling, and lay still.

"We did it," Karane yelled, accompanied by the excited yells of me and Malon.

Suddenly before our very eyes it gathered its bones and blade, minus a few in its spinal column and feet.

"How?" I asked, d

Getting to its feet it kicked Malon before she could react, knocking her into the wall. She dropped the blade and fell to the ground, whether dead or uncosous I did not know. I had to fight the grief welling up within me, as big and ugly was still alive and kicking.

"Karane, get behind him and try again," I shouted at her. "I'll distract it."

As it turned its face towards us, I put a bow in my arrow and sent an arrow into the same eye I'd hit earlier. It roared in anger and went for me again. Karane raced behind it's back, but before she could put blades into its spinal column, it struck out of one of its ugly feet and kicked her against the wall near Malon. I was now alone.

"Come on Zelda, you can do this," I said to myself, throwing my bow and quiver of arrows aside.

I raised my hands, and summoned my magic, focusing that elusive fireball. Red tendrils gathered within my hands, forming a roaring fireball. It let it loose, aiming in my mind for the spinal column. To my surprise, it obeying every mental command I gave it. It exploded right in the spinal column, shattering it. The Stalfos collapsed to the ground, and disappeared into a purple cloud. I could feel myself fading, a combination of shock and the effort of producing the fireball. I fell first to my knees, then to the ground.

"Kara...ne...Ma...l..on.." I uttered before I blacked out.

xxxxxxxxxx

(Out of Zelda's POV)

Link and Shiek had been going for sometime when they reached a chamber with no visible exit. As the torches flickered into life, Link's blood ran cold. To his right, face down and unresponsive, was Zelda, her long blonde hair concealing her face. He tried to run to his side, only to have Shiek grab his shoulder.

"We've got three girls to take care of," Shiek reminded him. "Discipline is absolutely essential Hero."

"Sorry," Link said, rapidly becoming irritated with his Shiekah companion.

Both carried Karane and Malon over to where Zelda was lying unresponsive.

"They'll be okay," said a voice behind them that made both jump.

"Rauru," Shiek said.

Link and Shiek both spun around to behold an old man, hunched over a cain. He was balding on top, but had a flowing white beard that ended at his feet. He was wearing red priest robes with a sash at the hem that had the Hyrulean Royal Family crest on it.

"Welcome back Shiek, and welcome Link," Rauru said. "The girls will be alright. I can sense no serious injuries in all three of them. We have things to discuss."

xxxxxxx

(Zelda's POV)

My eyes slowly opened to find myself not in the dank, dark room where we'd nearly lost to big ugly, but in a completely white chamber. I mean white; white walls, white beds, white floors, everything. I was laying on a white bed, with the most comfortable sheets you could imagine. Malon and Karane were both standing by my bedside. The three of us awkwardly embraced.

"We survived, we survived," Malon summed it all up for us.

"Yes, you all survived," said a voice that made us all jump.

We broke apart and looked behind us to see an old aged priest standing near the three triangle symbol.

"My name is Rauru," he said before we could ask any questions. "You three are lucky to be alive. I've healed all your injuries."

"Thanks," the three of us chorused together.

"Where are we?..." I began.

"I don't have time for questions," he interrupted us. "You'll get your answers in due time."

"I believe these are yours," he said, pointing to our weapons, which were lying against the head of Karane's bed.

"No, we just found them," Malon said.

"You found them because I put them there," Rauru informed us, ignoring the shocked looks on our faces. "Your arrivals here were foretold long ago"

"Really?" I said, skepticism clear in my voice.

"Yes," he said, shooting me an inquisitive look in return.

"You aren't kidding around with us, are you?" I asked.

Rauru smiled.

"No I'm not. You might not believe this, but Hyrule is in danger. You three, along with many others, have great roles to play to stop the destruction of this land. I foresaw and warned your ancestors about their illustrious descendants."

I still didn't believe him.

"Malon," he said, looking at Malon. "This sword belonged to your grandfather. He left it in my possession to give to you when you were old enough."

"Really?" Malon said, picking up the sword and examining every inch of it. "It was his."

"How do you know?" I asked, thoroughly intrigued.

She showed me two initials engraved in the blade.

"These are his initials carved in his signature style," she informed me.

"Oh," was all I could really say.

"Karane," he said. "These weapons are from your grandmother, Helena."

Karane picked up hers and examined every knife and needle.

"Thank you sir," she said, bowing slightly.

"Zelda the skeptical one," he said.

I snorted in disgust; _did he really have to point that out?_

"Fine then, I'm sure you'll recognize_ this_," he said, thrusting a paper into my hands.

The paper was tattered around the edges, but still. Someone had scrawled on it in a hand I knew as well as my own;

_My dear Mara_

_This bow has been passed down from mother to daughter as far back as my ancestors can remember. Now it is time that it is yours. I'm entrusting it to Rauru until you are of age._

I tried to suppress the tears that rolled down my face. It was as if my mother was reaching out to me, though I could never see her again.

"Is she, gone?" I asked Rauru out of nowhere.

I'd always clung to a small ray of hope that somehow she survived the raid on our village and was out there, somewhere, still alive.

"The Goddesses allowed me to see the raid on your village," he said. "No one survived except for you."

I broke down completely, losing my composure, tears streaming anew down my face. Karane took me in her arms and comforted me until I regained control of my emotions. I picked up the bow and examined every inch of it like Malon, admiring its handiwork like I hadn't done before.

"Now," Rauru said. "Due to the fact your parents might not approve of having such weapons, I'm going to magic them to your quarters. You must keep them hidden except from yourselves. Am I understood?"

"Yes," the three of us said together as one, taking him very seriously.

He waved his hand and they all vanished before a door opened and Link and another boy came in.

"Out that way will take everyone back to the main temple," Rauru said, indicating the door which the two boys

The five of us headed out, with three of us, namely me, Malon, and Karane eager to get out of these tunnels.

"Well, I'm predicting that Link will show up any minute," I whispered in an undertone to Karane as we started the first staircase.

Sure enough, he did exactly what I thought he would, hopping around the other boy, Malon, and Karane as we went up the stairs so he would walk right next to me.

"Hi Zelda," he said in what he clearly thought was a winning voice.

A debate began within my head; one side arguing to crush his hopes (and his ego) for once and for all, to encourage him, just ignore him, or explore what this guy actually had to offer. Just one thing was certain; I really didn't feel anything for him. But I did know feelings can change.

"So, um," he said, obviously nervous, though clearly trying to hide it. "Would you like to um...you.."

"What?" I said, cutting him off.

"...go on a date with me?" he finally got out, his voice higher than it normally was.

"Karane, Malon, move on, I'll catch up," I said to them.

I really didn't want an audience. Both giggled before moving on with Shiek who had an annoyed look on his face.

"Look Link," I said to him, keeping his attention fully on me. "I've just been through more in four weeks than most people go through in forty years of living. There is a storm raging within me that I cannot control and no one except myself and time can heal. So, the answer is no. But once it has subsided, I'll seriously consider your offer. Give me some time Link. If you don't, it's an outright no and don't bother me again. Got it?"*

I hoped that I had gotten through that thick skull of his. He seemed to contemplate what I had said for a few minutes.

"When will that be?" he asked.

I swear I just about toppled over. _Are guys really supposed to ask that?_

"I don't know," I said, throwing my arms up, my voice rising and irritation visible in every syllable. "You try losing your entire family and your mother and then you'll understand."

"Ooh," he said. "Sorry Zelda."

_Now that's more like it._

"Hurry up, we need to catch up with the others."  
xxxx

After some more walking up staircases, we came to another door. Karane and I were in the front and opened it, walking out into the sunlight filtering in through the stain glass windows. Hardly had I come out when the two of us saw Orielle barreling towards us. My eyes widened briefly before she pulled both of us into a bone-crushing hug.

"Karane, Zelda, you're alright," she said, her grip on the two of us tightening.

She let go of us and fixed both of us with the glare mothers give their children. Both me and Karane cowered under her gaze. _I'm truly one of the family if I'm cowering like Karane. _

"Don't you two ever do anything like that again, or you'll never leave the house to do something like this."

"Yes mom," both of us said together.

On that note, she brightened up considerably.

"Sorry Malon you had to go through it to," she said, giving Malon a hug as well.

"I'd rather go through it with these two," she said, patting both of us on the back. "Than anyone else."

"Orielle," said a voice behind us.

All three of us shrieked and whirled around to see Rauru behind us.

"They've been through a lot, so they need some bedrest," he informed her.

"No problem, Rauru," she replied.

"Wait, where's Link and the other boy?" Malon asked.

We looked behind us and didn't see the two of them.

"Where'd they go?" Karane said.

"What? Was Link with you?" Orielle asked, confused.

"Wait, whose was the other boy who was with us?" I said, confused

"They went another way," Rauru said.

"Mom," I said. "It's a long story. Can we discuss it at home, preferably after a nap."

"Oh, of course," she said.

The next little while passed like a blur after what the three of us had been through. We dropped Malon off at Malon's Womanwear's picked up Talon at Hyrule Castle, then headed back to the ranch where Karane and I collapsed into the couch in the Den. The Den (as Karane called it) was one of the four main room on the first floor of the Lon Lon manor house. Located to the right of the kitchen, it was furnished with two couches big enough to hold four people each, and a fireplace to keep the place warm. I had no sooner hit the couch when I was out like a light.

"Zelda, ZELDA WAKE UP!" someone yelled, slapping my face.

I groggily got up before opening my eyes, revealing Karane, her hair a complete mess, sitting next to me. I pushed her off the couch and turned over.

"Ow," Karane said, a little put off.

"Let me sleep Karane," I said.

A few minute of blissful sleep followed before ice cold water splattered onto my face.

"What the..?" I said, jumping up.

My eyes locked with Karane, who was gasping for breath.

"YOU!" I shouted at her, tackling her to the ground liked I used to do with my other siblings before my father took off with them.

"Zelda, wha..." Karane stuttered before I had her pinned to the ground. "Okay, you win, you win."

I got off of her, a victory smile on my face.

"Zelda, you have to see something," Karane said.

"What?" I said in an annoyed voice.

She had practically dragged me up the stairs to my room because I was so exhausted and I didn't want to go in the first place.

"Look," she said pointing.

To my suprise, a quiver of arrows and the golden bow I'd used so masterfully in the brush with the Stalfos were there, laying against my bed, as if I had placed it there before I crashed in the Den.

"How, how did this get here?" I asked Karane.

"No idea," Karane said. "Mine was here too."

She held up the belt full of knives.

"These aren't ordinary knives," Karane said. "They're Shiekah knives and sleeper pins...things that put people out for a few minutes for a quick getaway or interrogation."

"Don't use those on me," I said sternly.

"No, of course not," she said, laughing. "You'll probably used Nayru's Love and simply put me to sleep instead."

Both of us broke down into fits of the giggles that took several minutes to clear up.

"Well," I said, wiping away the tears. Thank goodness Rauru healed us. Our injuries must've been very severe to say the least. I don't ever want to meet a Staflos again."

"Neither do I," Karane agreed.

"But, that doesn't put us anywhere closer to finding out what or who _is _threatening Hyrule. All we found out was that our ancestors left us some heirlooms and that Hyrule is in danger like we thought. Now what?"

"I don't know," Karane said.

"I think our library," Karane said. "Look at what has happened in the past. Maybe that'll have some clues for us in the future."

"Whopppeeee..." I said, thrilled. "More research."

"I never said it was going to be easy," Karane said. "I'd better post a letter to Malon letting her know our future plans."

"Karane, Zelda," Orielle's voice came from below. "We need to talk."

Both me and Karane looked at each other.

"How much should we tell her?" I asked.

"Everything except why we went to the Temple of Time," Karane said. "If we don't, she'll figure it out one way or another and she won't like."

"I'll take your word for it," I said as we left my bedroom.


	7. Chapter 6-The Darkness Begins

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

**Merry Christmas to my readers!**

**Review if you want.**

Chapter 6-Darkness Begins

_ I awoke in the middle of a white room, the same as in my dream that happened shortly after I collapsed in the snow two months ago. The Zelda who descended from the sky was the only one there this time. She was standing opposite to me, looking out the same window she was in my first dream, wearing the white dress I'd seen her in last time. She turned around and looked me straight in the eyes._

_"My daughter Zelda," she said in her sweet voice, approaching me. "We meet again. I wish it could be under better circumstances. Listen to me, your life will depend on it."_

_ I gave her my full and undivided attention._

_"The darkness that threatens Hyrule is at hand. The current monarch has been igorant and no one is prepared for it. The time has come that you must learn and grow with what is inside of you. Your destiny, your magic, the Triforce that glows within your hand."_

_"What is the darkness, who's behind it, and when will it strike?" I asked, desparate for more anwsers. _

_ She ignored my question._

_"Peace, my daughter," she replied. "All your questions will be anwsered in due time. You must see something else. Brace youself, for it won't be pleasant, but you must see it. I'm sorry, but it's my duty."_

_ She waved her hand and the current scene disappeared from before my eyes. I was now standing in a vast stone hall, in what looked like to be a throne room in a castle. I looked down to see that the white dress I'd been wearing in the dream was gone. I was now wearing a pink and purple dress made of the finest material I'd ever seen. White gloves covered my hands, ending well past my elbows. A sash contained the emblem of the Triforce along with what looked like to be a bird underneath it was attached to the hem of my dress. Around my neck was a purple necklace of the finest precious stones I'd ever laid eyes on._

_ I felt something unusual resting on the top of my head and looked to my right and saw a mirror. On top of my head was a crown, with a priceless red ruby in the center, with the chains vanishing into the locks of my blonde hair, ending as four white edges over my ears. My eyes took in the room, which had banners lining the walls with the same symbols on the sash that is on the front of my dress. 'BANG'. The massive wooden doors were blasted clean off their hinges, quite a feat considering they looked like they could survive anything. _

_ A man in black robe and cloaked walked into the throne room, with two prisoners in tow, massive moblins leading them along. I didn't reconize them, except that that they were from among my people. _

_"Why are you here? What are you doing in my kingdom and marching in so balantly like that?" I demanded in a voice not like my own._

_"My dear princess," he said. "I have the whole of Hyrule under my complete control. You have two options; surrender, or watch the merciless slaughter of your people."_

_ My mind raced for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. There was only one option. I dropped the golden bow I was holding, hearing it clanter to the ground as a sign of surrender._

_"Good," he said in an evil voice. "Dispose of the guards and prisoners."_

_"But, you said..."_

_"I never said I wouldn't slaughter your people anyways," he spat._

_ The moblins pulled out knives and put them to the throats of their prisoners, who were both looking at me with an expression that was too familiar; the one my mother gave me before she sacrificed her life. Several more monsters raced into the room, charging straight at me with swords and clubs raised..._

_"NOOOOOOOO!" _

I jolted awake, sitting up in bed, feeling cold sweat running down my forehead. I was shaking uncontrollably all over, breathing in deep, erratic breathes. My mind was still replaying the images, torturing me even futhur. A dark figure burst into the room not long after I cried out.

"Zelda, are you alright?" Karane asked, racing to my bedside, dressed in a pale blue nightgown.

She got on my bed on all fours and crawled over to me. She looked at me for a brief second, my face illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through my window, then pulled me into an embrace. She cooed words of comfort to me, rubbing my back, trying to get me to calm down. She did this for several minutes.

"Are you okay?" Karane asked again.

"No..no..I." was all I could get out, still in shock.

"What was it, what was your nightmare about?"

"It..it..was.," I stuttered, breaking into sobs at the vision that was tormenting me.

"Please Zelda, tell me about it," she pleaded with me.  
"N..n..o.o" I choked out.

"Zelda, please, tell me your nightmare," she coaxed.

Before I could stop myself the entire dream came spilling out, every single detail, from the appearance of Zelda to the scene in the throne room. Karane took in everything I said. Once I was done, I could feel my breathing return to normal and my shaking gradually subsided.

"Zelda," she said. "Are you sure you saw what you saw?"

"Yes, I know what I saw," I said, rubbing my eyes, the dream still burned onto my the back of my eyelids.

She went quiet for a minute before her features lit up like a newly-lit candle.

"I've got it," she said.

"Got what?" I asked.

"I do know that Shiekah are said to interpet such dreams," she said. "I know where some of them still are. We could ask them for help."

I heard the male Cuccuos on the ranch start cawing and wondered why I had never heard them before.

"It's almost dawn," she said, finally letting go of me. "Don't go back to sleep. The dream might reoccur."

"I won't," I said, my voice still not normal.

xxxxx

About midday, I was sitting in my bedroom on my bed, nose buried in a book, trying to distract myself from the nightmare of the last night, when the door opened and Karane came in. She was carry a folded-up black bundle; some sort of clothing.

"What's that?" I asked

She unfolded the bundle and held it up by the shoulders for me to see what it was. It was a black cloak. The cloak would almost completely cover my body if I put it on, and it had a hood to cover one's face.

"What is that for?"

"Sneaking out at night," she said. "We have some investigating to do. It's the only way we can get to the Shiekah. And we've been hitting dead ends for the last few weeks."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked.

"No," she said, biting her lip. "I can't imagine the trouble we'll get in if we get caught."

"Then, why are we doing this?"

"Because it's clear all of our lives are in danger and no one will believe us execpt for the Shiekah. I'm going to take you to a small cavern not too far from here. It looks like a hole in the ground, but it's a Shiekah hideout. My grandmother used to take me there when I was a small girl. We can tell them of your suspicions and introduce you to them.

"But..."

We leave tonight," Karane said, throwing the cloak at me.

I decided that our safety overruled any real objection I had. So, the rest of the day passed slowly for me. I had a pile of emotions building within me, mainly excitement mixed with dread. _What if we got caught? How severe would be the consequences would we'd face? _Luckily we hadn't been grounded for what had happened in the Temple of Time (technically it really wasn't my fault, I didn't know the wall was linked to a trapdoor) but the resulting lecture Mom gave us afterwards wasn't fun.

I had one other problem; due to my nightmare, I'd woken up far too early for my comfort. My eyes were still heavy with sleep. When the night came, I laid down on my bed fully dressed in my white outfit I wore during the fiasco in Castle Town a few weeks prior (it's the easiest for me to run in, plus the cloak will cover it so no one will see the white) waiting for Karane to come and get me. But I was out when I hit the pillow.

"Zelda, Zelda, wake up," she said not long after I drifted off.

"Go away," I mumbled in my sleep, rolling over.

She didn't bother me again until I felt a poke in my back. Pain radiated outward from the poke and thoroughout my body. I jolted awake, ready to cry out when she put her hand over my mouth, stifling any sound that came out.

"It's what you deserve for going to sleep," she whispered in a stern voice, taking her hand off my mouth.

"What was that?" I asked, refering to the poke.

"Forget it," she said. "We've got to go."

"Will we need our weapons?" I asked.

"Yes, I've got mine."

I got up, stretched my arms and legs, gathered my bow and the quiver of arrows, both of which I'd hidden in my warderobe among all my dresses. I put on the cloak on first, strapped the quiver of arrows onto my back, and did likewise with the bow.

"We need to hurry," Karane said. "Zombies appear late at night on Hyrule Field."

We followed the well-worn track that I'd followed in a blizzard over two months prior, trying to avoid the mud puddles that have been forming from the spring thaw. When we reached the perimeter of the ranch, we broke into a slow run, heading for the trees where I'd had my first magic training session. Karane seemed to know the way quite well, winding through the trees in a direct course. She lead me quite a ways, until she held out a hand to stop me in my tracks.

"Wait a minute," she said,"it's around here somewhere. Start looking for a hole in the ground."

We began to look around, spreading out over a wide area, staring at the ground, trying to see with the only light coming from the stars and the moon.

"Aaahahhh," I yelled as I fell into a hole that I hadn't seen, landing with a crash at the bottom.

I rubbed my sore bottom, getting to my feet. I looked up at the hole, a couple feet above my head. This was no natural depression in the ground.

"Karane, I think I found it," I said loudly.

"Hey, what're you doing here?," came a rough voice from behind me.

I whirled around to find a rough-looking man behind me. He had dark eyes, black hair, was wearing a blue robes with the Shiekah symbol on the shirt, and was holding two ugly-looking knives, pointed directly at me.

"I..I...I," was all I could get out, staring at the two knives pointed at my heart.

"Back down," said Karane's stern voice from behind me. "She's with me and is very important."

"Sorry Karane," said the man. "It's been many years since you left your training."

"Well," she said matter-of-factly. "I didn't approve of the Shiekah lifestyle. But anyways, this girl, Zelda, has the Triforce piece of Wisdom and has been having some ominous dreams lately."

"Really?," he said, as if this was an earth shatteirng developement.

I pulled off my hood, exposing my face. He gasped and jumped back several feet. He opened his mouth to say something when someone punched him in the ribs.

"Oh, sorry Impa," he said, bowing in respect to another being behind him.

A girl steppped foreward. She was dressed similarly to the man who had just threatened me.

"Greetings Zelda, Karane," she said. "My name is Impa. May I see your hand, sorry, it's nessecary to make sure your story isn't a forgery."

I extended my hand, which had the glowing triangles on it. Impa scrutinized it for a minute, before looking me over as well, making me nervous.

"What dreams have you been having lately?" she inquired.

"Go on," Karane urged. "You can trust her."

I described the dream in great detail. Impa listened very attentively, asking an occasional question, and pondering my anwsers.

"Zelda," she said. "Your dreams are often glimpses of the future."

"What?" I said, looking at Karane with alarm in my eyes.

She looked as grave as I did. Impa looked at both of us wearily, and considered us, as though trying to decide what to tell us.

"Karane, Zelda," she said. "You might already know this, but a dark force has been threatening the land of Hyrule for sometime. It's clear that the Goddesses have some plan for both of you in all of this, but what it is I cannot say. Understand, these dreams may not be literal, but symbolic. So, you two may relax."*

"Can you tell us what the dream means?" I asked.

"Well," she said, thinking for a moment. "It's probably best to start with what's going to happen in the near future. Is there anything that's going to happen at a castle you or your family is involved with?

"No," I said, but a look of horror had come over Karane's face.

"Yes, actually there is," she said. "In less than a week, there's going to be a massive celebration at the castle and all nobles are invited, including my parents."

She put her head in her hands in dismay.

"It'll be a prefect time for anyone to strike," Impa said. "Taking out the leadership of Hyrule in one swoop. This must not happen. One more thing, describe for me the night the Triforce appeared on the back of your hand."

I described to her the dream, or whatever had happened that night the Triforce triangle had seeked me out, the voices that had accompanied it, and how it had plunged into my stomach.

"That tells me it had been shattered violently by someone," Impa informed us. "Karane has probably already filled you in on what causes that. The Sacred Realm was invaded on that very same night by assailents unknown. The Triforce shattered and the pieces vanished."

"Really?" I said, stunned.

"So, what do we do?" Karane asked in dispair, clearly afraid that the dream might come true.

"First, try to convince your parents to decline the invitation," Impa said. "But remember, the dreams may not be literal, just symbolic. Now, don't worry, just run along. We'll stay in touch. Together, we'll do our best."

Karane and I pulled our hoods over our heads and turned to leave.

"Zelda, Karane," came Impa's voice from behind us.

"You two will need to be involved," she said. "The Goddesses have interwined your fates to collide with that of the darkness. The Shiekah can help you, so we need to find a way to stay in contact."

"The tree outside Zelda's window," Karane interjected. "It'll be prefect."

"That'll work," Impa said. . "You two may go. We'll expend all our energies to prevent this from happening."

We climbed out of the entrance on a ladder, praying that when we got back, our parents wouldn't know what we'd done.

xxxxxx

The next day dawned bright and clear. I was the first one up at the crack of dawn, the first thing I did (my hair a total wreck as usual) was look out my window. Just outside the grounds of the ranch was a very large tree some distance off. I guessed that it was the tree Karane had been talking about. I bolted from my bed, pulling a blue bathrobe over my white nightgown as I went. I tiptoed down the stairs, making my way into the desereted kitchen and to the front door, slipping my feet into my boots. I carefully undid the bolts on the door, opening it carefully, trying to avoid it from creaking and pontentially giving me away.

My teeth chattered frequently as I walked the few hundred yards out to the tree. I walked around tree several times, examining every inch I could see with my eyes. Eventually, I found a cavity on the north side of the tree. A small glass bottle had been wedged into it. A rolled-up piece of parchment was inside. I picked the bottle out of the tree, pulled the piece of parchment out, and put the bottle back into the cavity. I smoothed it out, and began to read. It read;

_Zelda, Karane_

_Keep this bottle here. We'll leave messages in it nightly for you to retrieve. We have started investigating areas where threats to Hyrule have started in the past. All we can do is sit tight for. _

_Impa_

I folded the note up, tucked inside my bathrobe and headed back inside to show to Karane later. A few hours later, Karane and I were in the library, persusing through books, looking for any sign of anything that might help us when Talon came into the room.

"Hi Dad," me and Karane said in unison.

"Zelda, your presence is requested in the Den," he said.

"What?" I said, looking up from a old volume, confused.

No one had ever asked for me before.

"Zelda, Malon needs you, immediately, now" he said.

At the sound of Malon's name, I pratically dropped the volume and raced through the manor house towards the Den, Karane hot on my heels. We found Malon lying on one of the couches in the Den, dressed in a blue rain cloak with the MW emboidered on the front. Her hair was a complete mess and she was very weak. She had a wet sponge on her forehead and was clearly burning up. Her breathing was labored, just like mine had been when I had my last outburst.

"What's wrong?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

"Zelda," Malon said in a very weak voice. "I've been cursed."

"Cursed?" I asked, stunned. "By whom, or what?"

"I don't know," she said weakly. "Can you heal me? Karane told me in one of her letters about your magic. We've tried everything. Your our last hope."

She no sooner finished her statement when my heart sank. I'd mastered Din's Fire, but since then, my training with Karane had become a total nightmare. Farore's Wind was proving to be difficult. And I'd never used my magic before to heal anyone. I gripped her hand, debating what to tell her when I felt a tingling where my hand had contacted her skin, the kind that appeared just before one of my outbursts. To my surprise, I saw briefly a dark current flowing underneath where I was holding her arm, exposed I guess when I touched her. I guessed that was the dark magic that had entered her body.

Immedaitely after I'd noticed this, the Triforce emblem on the back of my hand began resonating. I zoned out and lost all sense of time and where I was. A single voice rang out in my mind, sounding like the one the blue woman used in my first dream. _Learn to use the Wisdom I bestowed on you my child. Inject your magic into her right arm. _

"Zelda, Zelda," someone said.

My eyes flickered open and found that I was on the other couch in the Den, Karane was standing over me, shaking me.

"I've been waking you up a lot lately," she noted as I opened my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I can't help it when I pass out or my magic gets out of control."

"Out of control," Malon repeated in a weak and worried voice from behind us, causing Karane to turn around to face her.

"Not anymore," I said quickly, getting up from the couch and walking over to her again. "That was months ago."

"Oh," she said, not fully convinced.

"Well, this is what I'm going to do," I said, deciding to trust the mysterious voice. "I'm going to inject my magic into your arm. I think that'll force whatever you were cursed with out."

"Will it hurt?" she asked weakly.

"Be careful Zelda, I hope you know what you are doing," Karane said, speaking for the first time since Malon had arrived here.

"I don't know," I said. "Most magic is painless though."

Malon gave me her arm and and a trusting gaze. Very gently, I gripped her arm with my hand that had the Triforce emblem on the back.

"Ready?" I asked her.

She nodded, then closed her eyes. I closed mine too, forcing magic from my stomach into my hands. A flash caused me and Malon to open our eyes. We saw white energy flowing out from my hand and into her arm.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"A little," she said. "It's getting worse the longer you continue. But I can feel my illness leaving me as we speak."

It was then I noticed that my knees were beginning to wobble from lack of energy. My physical stamina was faltering rapidly as more and more magic drained from my body. Soon both of us were gritting our teeth, pushing through the exhaustion and pain. _How much dark magic did the bozo who cursed her put into this intrepid girl?_

"Aaaahhhhhhhh," Malon yelled in pain, unable to bear it any longer.

But it was over. My knees gave out and I toppled to the ground in front of the couch as a black bolt of magic shot out of Malon's stomach and vanished into thin air. I lay on the ground, both me and Malon taking in deep breathes. Karane grabbed me by the armpits and was helping me to the other couch when Malon's mother burst into the room attracted by her daughter's cry. She was dressed exactly like her daughter.

"What did you do to my little girl?" she asked me, sparks flying from her eyes.

I couldn't anwser, too tired to focus on anythng else. I'd finally reached the other couch and sank down into it, thoroughly exhausted.

"Mother," came from behind Malon's mother (who is also named Malon).  
She spun around to find Malon sitting up, the sponge next to her on the couch.

"I'm alright, she healed me."

Malon's mother raced to me and gave me a hug on the couch.

"Thank you so much," she whispered into my ear. "How lucky we are you ended up on the Lon Lon's doorstep."

"You know?," I said, shocked.

"Sure we do," she said. "Orielle told us about you not long after you arrived in that miserable blizzard."

"Oh," I said, surprised that my story had spread beyond the Lon Lons.

"So, what actually happened?" I asked the two of them.

Malon's mother let go of me, went back to her daughter and sat down next to her.

"Well," Malon said. "I was on my way home from the Royal Library when something impacted in my right arm. That's all I remember. When I came to, I was in my house, my father had found me and moved me there. A few days later I got sick, developing a fever and I was bedriddgen shortly thereafter. No doctor could tell us what was wrong. Then I remembered that Karane had wrote to me in one of our letters about your magic. I remembered legends about magic users being able to use their magic to heal. That's where I got the idea that maybe you could heal me."

"No one was seen when she was hit," her mother explained. "No arrow, nothing was found in the area where Malon was injured. The Royal Guards found nothing."

Malon's mother rose to her feet.

"Well, I've got to go talk to Orielle and Talon," she said. "Malon, lie back down and put that sponge back on. I don't want to take any chances."

She left the room after ensuring Malon did as she was instructed. Once she was gone, Malon turned to us.

"There's something else that I haven't told or showed my parents," she said. "When I awoke, there was a note stuffed into one of my snow cloak's pockets. This is it."

She pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment from her dress and held it out to Karane. Karane took it, smoothed it out, and came over to me so that we could both read it. In a clear, but quickly scribbled hand where the words;

_Princess, you've been warned. Hyrule will be mine. _

"What does that mean?" I asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," Karane said. "Princess though, it keeps cropping up...

Both me and Malon waited for her to continue her sentence. But she never completed it. After a brief awkward silence, Malon spoke.

"Okay," Malon said a little confused. "It doesn't help us much."

"We must get this to the Shiekah as soon as possible," Karane said. "I'll go later tonight."

She took the note and left the Den, heading for our rooms.

"What? Shiekah? What's going on here?" Malon asked me from across the room.

I got up off my couch, my strength now partially replenished, and went over to her.

"I'll bring you up to speed."

I told her everything that had transpired that she didn't know about. When I had finished, her eye were bulging. Then, out of nowhere, a smirk broke onto her face.

"What about Link?" she said.

"What about him?" I responded.

"Have you taken him out yet?"

"No, and I have no plans to."

"Really, he was so sweet."

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I don't think it'll ever happen anyways. He disappeared after the Temple of Time excursion and no one has seen him since."

"Oh," she said. "Really?"  
"Yes," I said, relief in my voice. "I'm tired, I'm going to get a bite to eat.

xxxxxxxx

Back at the Shiekah hideout early the next morning...

Serene entered the Shiekah hideout after another day of spying on the three girls. It was now desereted, execpt for Impa.

"Good evening Serene," Impa said. "What's your report."

"Well, they found the scroll I planted behind Hyrule Castle and decoded it. They beat a Staflos in the Temple of Time, in which the blonde girl also mastered Din's Fire. She progressing rapidly Impa, I'm thoroughly impressed."

"Well, it's now time to tell her," Impa replied. "But we must stay put until the Hero returns from his sojourn in the mountains."

"What's he doing there?" Serene asked.

"Retrieving the Goron medallion," Impa said. "He's already got the Forest and the Zora medallions. The one with the Gorons is the last one we need to retrieve the Master Sword. He should be back within the week. Meanwhile, just continue to observe the blonde girl."

"Yes Impa," Serene said.

The two of them lifted themselves out of the Shiekah hideout and into the plains of Hyrule Field separating as Impa headed towards Castle Town and Serene turned south, heading for the ranch.

**So, some may find this sounds like filler, all I will say is this setting up the rest of the story. **


	8. Chapter 7-The Mirror

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Note; portions of this chapter may require a knowledge of some of the events that transpired in Twilight Princess. I tried to make it understandable even if you haven't played the game.

Review, if you want the story to improve.

Chapter 7-The Mirror

(Out of Zelda's POV)

Serene and Link paused briefly at the tree-lined lane leading up to the Lon Lon Manor house front door. It was a full moon tonight, not ideal for the kind of work they were here to do, but they didn't have a choice in the matter. Both of them had on black cloaks, and masks over their Shiekah and Hero outfits. As they snuck from tree to tree, pausing behind each one, Serene, used to this sort of work, easily avoided any potential obstacles. Link however, wasn't so lucky. His foot caught in a tree root, causing him to do a faceplant into the ground.

'CRASH!'

"Link," Serene said, shaking her head as she helped him up.

"Serene, everyone does that every one and then," Link defendered. "Besides, I have other concerns."  
"What might those be?"

"Well, I don't fancy breaking into my former employer's manor house," Link said, wiping pine tree needles and tree branches off his outfit. "Can't we tell her in the day time when she's outside or something like that?"

"Is that really the problem or is it that you don't fancy breaking into the house where the girl of your dreams is staying?," Serene taunted him in a whisper.

The look on Link's face betrayed him.

"Shiek told me everything," Serene said, explaining. "But you've got a problem."

"What's that?" Link responded, surprised.

"Just know that when the turmoil begins, there really won't be time for you two to get together."

Link sighed; it had been true that with his newfound duties, it had been keeping him away from Zelda. _But what did Serene mean?_

"Let's just get on with it," he said, walking towards the manor.

xxxxxxx

(Back to Zelda's POV)

Karane, Malon, and I lay on or against my bed, despirited and bored out of our minds. It had been two days since the first message had arrived from Impa, but her next few hadn't been very encouraging. We'd been reduced to looking through library books to try to decipher my dream and find more information on the darkness threatening Hyrule, or something that had happened in the past, but we'd found nothing. Karane was in shock; the library had never failed her before.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything on it," she said, stunned, scraping some lint off her blue dress. "I do still have a few books in my room I need to check."

"And my eyes are sore," Malon complained, straightening out her red dress that had the signature 'MW' embroidered on the front. "I've read enough books to last an eternity."

After her brush with the curse, Malon's parents left her at the ranch, just in case some form of the curse was still in her. Luckily, I'd hadn't detected any signs of it remaining, so I was able to pronounce her cured earlier today. Karane left the room, closing the door behind her. Me and Malon just laid out on my bed, staring at the ceiling, lost deep in thought.

Thoughts of all kinds raced through my head, none presenting an anwser to the questions that had have been tormenting me. _What did my dreams mean and why did the Triforce choose me? _We had nothing to go on, or where to start looking for that matter. The two of us hadn't been like this for long when the door burst open again.

"Karane?" I said, coming out of my train of thought, stunned she was back so early.

But it wasn't Karane. Two masked intruders entered the room, looking around. One was rather short, lithe, and thin, while the other was taller, and more muscular. Both were wearing black cloaks and masks over their faces.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I said, fright in my voice despite my best efforts to sound brave.

Absentmindly, I was feeling around for my bow and arrows, which I quickly realized I'd left across the room, lying against the my wardrobe, out of reach.

"We want to..." said a voice that I didn't reconize from the smaller of the two.

"NO! You're not doing anything here," Malon declared, finding her sword, which she'd stashed under my bed.

Malon latched onto one of my arms and pointed her rapier at the two masked intruders, who had shut the door behind them. I hid my other free hand behind my back and began to grow a fireball, being careful not to set my lilac green dress on fire.

"I think you misunderstood what we were trying to say," said a very familiar voice.

"Oh, I understood fine," I said.

I wasn't going to wait around to find out what these bandits wanted. I hurled my fireball, which was now the size of a large Cuccou, sending it flaming at the two intruders. One, the thinner and shorter of the two of them, cartwheeled out of the way, but the second one wasn't so lucky.

"Wait Zelda..." Link's voice said.

I wasn't listening; breaking into the house I'm staying in crosses the line. I exploded the fireball in his face.

"Oohaaahh," Link said in a surprised voice, as the mini-explosion propelled him up into the air before he fell back to the ground, out cold.

"Stop," said the other one who managed to dodge it. "We-I mean you no harm."

"Really?" Malon said, her sword in her right hand, disbelief in her voice.

"Please," she pleaded furthur, taking her hood and cloak off and throwing them aside. "Stop."

A woman was standing before me. She had blonde hair, cut short, and the signature red eyes of the Shiekah. The eye symbol was also on her blue outfit, identifying her as a member of the clan. Malon lowered her rapier and I withdrew my magic back into my stomach.

"Well," I said, now relaxing. "You could've at least knocked or something like that."

"My name is Serene," she said.

"Well," Malon said. "It must be important if you're breaking in like a group of burglars in the night."

"We need to tell you something," Serene said. "Something that Zelda needs to know. It'll affect Hyrule's destiny."

"Know what?" I said bluntly.

"Well," she said, getting straight to the point. "Let's start with the scroll you picked up a few days ago."

"Wait, how do you know about the scroll?" Malon cut in.

"I planted it, to guide you to the right course," Serene said, catching Malon off guard. "I trusted you'd show it to your friends and would find a way to decode it."

"No you didn't, I found it..."

"Outside the back of Hyrule Castle, in the garbage?" Serene filled in.

"Yes," Malon said shocked.

Serene turned to me

"It said a branch of the Royal Family escaped., they're whereabouts unknown. Am I correct Zelda?"

"Uhh, yes you are correct," I said, failing to see where this was going.

"Where do you think they might've fled?"

"Anywhere," I responded. "They could've fled the country, I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"They went to the Faron Woods," she added, pressing on. "Settling in the village of Mordon, where you are from."

"Um," I said, not sure of what to say or make of this. "Many families lived in Mordon. Where are you going with this?"

"Haven't you figure it out yet? They're your ancestors Zelda," she said. "Technically, you should be known as _Princess _Zelda and be sitting on the throne right now."

It took a few minutes for the absurdity of her statement to sink in. I wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Are you nuts?" I said in a deadly voice. "I'm sorry, but..."

"Not the last time I checked," Serene said with a smile, clearly enjoying our little exchange.

"Zelda's not a princess," Malon interjected. "Or are you? And I never knew you had siblings."

"No," I said. "I was a peasant farmer before I landed here. And yes, I did have four siblings."

"But you're from Mordon in the Faron Woods, right?"

"Yeah. But I don't know of any royality in my bloodline."

"I have proof," Serene said, interupting our little exchange. "Didn't you know that the Triforce mark of Wisdom on the back of your hand was entrusted to the Princess? If you aren't a member of the Royal Family, then why would Wisdom choose you?"

"I don't know," I said.

Serene's smile grew wider; she knew I was losing. A third of me wanted nothing to do with what she was saying, saying that she was a lunatic. But most of me was believing her. I took a look at Malon, she was looking from me to Serene and back again. _I wonder what she's thinking about all this? _Suddenly, the Triforce mark on the back of my hand lit up.

"What the.."

That was all I got out when golden light burst forth, from it, blinding all of us. When the flash had subsided, the dress I'd been wearing was gone. In it's place was a pink dress mad of the finest material. I looked down at it and gasped at what I saw. On the hem of the dress was a sash containing the Triforce emblem and the emblem of the Royal Family of Hyrule. It was held in place by a golden belt that was tied around my waist, while royal white gloves had appeared on my hands and arms, ending well past my elbows. In addition, a necklace of purple rubies had appeared on my neck. I felt additional weight on my forehead that hadn't been there before.

My gaze snapped onto my wardrobe. Looking into the mirror on it, I gasped in shock again. First, there was some sort of make-up on my eyes. I'd never worn make-up until recently; we were simply too poor to afford it. Second, on my head, woven into my hair was a golden tiara or crown. Right above my forehead, in the middle of the tiara, it contained a priceless purple ruby. In addition, worked into the sides of my bangs were four white hair ornaments, that rounded out the crown.* Malon was watching me, wide-eyed while Serene was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, _Princess _Zelda," Serene said, emphasizing the word Princess. "Do you believe me now?"

I was having a hard time taking it in. My knees had suddenly become weak and I gripped the wardrobe for support. My right hand brushed my bow, which immediately turned a bright golden color. I shrieked and tripped onto my bed, overcome with a mixture of both surprise and shock.

"That's another sign of the Princess," Serene pointed out. "So, Princess Zelda, what more evidence do you need?"

"So, you _are_ a princess," Malon said, squealing with delight. "I've always wanted to meet one."

I was feeling faint, my mind overwhelmed with all the questions and thoughts swirling about. I needed a break. I got off the bed, which soon proved to be a bad idea. My knees locked and I went down. The room was rapidly fading from my view as darkness pressed upon my vision.

"Zelda!" was the last I heard before all went black.

xxxxxx

My eyes slowly fluttered open sometime later to find myself on my bed, with Talon and Orielle sitting next to me. A massive headache that I hand't noticed set in as I sat up.

"My head," I said gripping it, not feeling the tiara there anymore.

As my vision slowly returned to normal, I saw it lying on the edge of the bed next to me. I was still in my regal attire that I'd acquired earlier. _I'm in so much trouble._

"Easy Zelda," Orielle said, helping me lay back down. "By what I've been told by Malon, you hit your head pretty hard."

"How long have I been out?" I inquired.

"Well, about two hours to be exact," Talon informed me.

"What exactly happened?" Karane asked.

"Later," Malon promised, who had just entered the room, holding some sort of green fruit. "We need to get her well first. Karane, could you get us so stamina fruit."

"Okay," Karane voice said, coming from downstairs.

"Dear, dear," Talon said with a smile. "You can't just stay out of trouble, can you?"

"I do," I said weakly. "Trouble has been finding _me._"

Karane burst into the room a few minutes later, bearing four green fruits in her hands. She sat down next to our mother and handed one of them to me. I took it, and bit into the fruit, feeling a sweet taste enter my mouth.

"And you have some explaining to do as well," Orielle said in a stern voice, eyeing my new outfit.

I didn't have a choice.

"Well, you see..."

It took me about five minutes to explain everything to them. When I was done, Orielle had a shocked look on her face. I braced for her reaction.

"Well," she said. "Something is clearly going to happen."

"I've been picking up rumblings," Talon said. "I do have sources that tell me things. And the latest news has been of monster raging unchecked in the Gerudo Deseret."

"Serene and Link have more explaining to do," I said. "From what I got, it seems like I should be on the throne right now. It's not like I can waltz into Hyrule Castle and tell Matinus, 'Um, hi, I'm Princess Zelda, and can I have my throne back."

Malon and Karane burst into a fit of the giggles that took them awhile to get under control. Orielle and Talon both simply smiled, but didn't laugh.

"Well Zella, I'll tell you this," Orielle said after exchanging a brief look with your husband. "We'll help in anyway we can."

"Thanks Mom, thanks Dad," Karane said. "Don't worry, the Shiekah will protect you."

"One more thing," I said, now that both of them were here. "Please don't go to the celebration."

"Why?" Orielle queried, her eyes narrowed.

"I afraid that we have to go," Talon added/ "Although we don't like the regime, especially the way it regulates the economy, we have to maintain good relations with the government to ensure the survival of the ranch."

I locked eyes with Karane and Malon briefly, then told them about the dream I had. Orielle didn't looked very convinced by the end of it.

"We'll talk it over," she said, deflecting my question. "Hollar if you need anything."

She and Talon left the room, leaving the three of us alone. I broke the silence.

"I just fear how this might end," I said.

"How?" Malon queried.

"Somehow, they plan to turn the throne over to me," I said, the full realization of what they might be planning bursting over me. I put my head in my hands. "Oh, I'm in so much trouble."

"It'll be okay Zelda," Karane said, putting her arm around me. "I'm sure everything will work out. Anyways, you've been out all day, so it's actually bedtime."

"Good," I said, finishing off the last Stamina Fruit. "I feel good enough to change out of this. And by the way, where did Link and Serene go?"

"They left shortly after you passed out," Malon said.

We changed into our white nightgowns, with me taking twice as long as usual due to my new outfit. I hid it in my wardrobe among my dresses. If found, it could earn all of us a death sentence. I extuished the candle in my room, climbed into bed and was out as soon as I hit the pillow.

xxxxxxx

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. I moaned and sat up in my bed, fumbling for a lantern Karane had left in there yesterday, but couldn't find it. Finally, I got out of bed, and started walking to the door, intent on getting a drink of water from the kitchen, guided by the moonlight that was flooding in from my window. I'd scarcely opened my door and gone out into the hall when a voice said, "You still awake too?"

I jumped, but managed to contain my scream.

"Yeah," I said.

A lantern flickered into existence, revealing the tired faces of Karane and Malon.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"We've both been having the same bad dream recently," Malon said. "It's similiar to the same one you had, execpt we're like your attendents or something, watching the same scene unfold by your side."

"Really?" I said, surprised. "Did any of you wake up with cold sweat trickling down your forehead?"

"No," Malon said. "But it was still bad. Also, I know this might be a touchy subject, but something you said has really bothered me."

"What might that be?" I asked, mystified.

"You said something about that you 'used to have' siblings," she said, proceeding carefully. "What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, that," I said. "You have to know the full story..."

_ Mom had left. That's what Dad had told us. My siblings had accepted his explanation without question, but I knew better. I was the oldest, only around ten at the time, but wise behind my years as Mom had always put it. They'd been fighting for weeks until Dad forced her out and took custody of us using Hyrule's laws, which favor men over woman. _

_ I tried to convince my siblings otherwise and even was stupid enough to try Dad, but I'd failed. That's why I was leaving, to find her. I had a good guess where she would go; Mordon, her hometown and where her side of the family was from. Unlike my other siblings, my Mom and I were very close. _

_ I snuck out of my room late one night, tiptoeing past where Dad was snoring layed out on the couch. I had stuffed what few outfits I owned in a small bag I'd stolen from his closet earlier in the day. I'd left no note in my room; better to leave anonmously rather than risk discovery. I slipped out the front door, walking right into someone as I went._

_"Uhhhhhh" I said as I toppled down the front steps with someone else. We landed with a nice 'crash' at the bottom of the stairs, layed out beside each other at the foot foot of the stairs. "Ow...what the, Mom?"_

_ I froze and she did too as we took each other in. She was wearing all black robes, and had her golden blonde hair tied back in a bun. She'd come back to try and get us! I embraced her and her me as we reconized each other, still lying on the ground._

_"I..I..thought, I'd never see you again," I stuttered, starting to cry._

_"Me, too," she said, tears also leaking out of her eyes as well._

_ We stood up, but when we done so, Mom pulled me away from the house and into the cover of the nearby woods. She gazed at me with so much love in her eyes, feeling me as if she couldn't believe it was me. I knew the thought running through her head; __**the daughter who had inherited all of her traits and was the spitting image of her had rallied to her side on her own. **__She hugged me like she'd hadn't seen me in years._

_"Shhhh," she said, cradling me against her body and wiping my tears away. "We don't want to be heard. Stay until I come for you."_

_ I grabbed her hand as she turned to head back to the house._

_"What're you doing?" I said, panic-stricken. "Let's go."_

_"I'm not leaving without your silbings," she said. "That's why I'm back."_

_"Mom, you don't understand," I said. "Dad poisoned their minds against you. He lied to us, said you were leaving. I didn't believe him, I tried to covince them otherwise, but they wouldn't listen. Please, I know, let's just go."_

_ I wasn't meaning to be selfish, if that's what it had sounded like. But they'd turned me down flat and made it clear to me that they wanted nothing to do with her. A single night visit wasn't going to do the trick, I knew that. My mother's response though, shocked me._

_"Yes," she said, in a defeated tone. "I trust you. I seen it in their eyes, but I was gripped by one last hope, that maybe..."_

_"Mom," I said, trying to get some sense into her. "I understand. Please, if Dad finds us, he'll take me back, and I'll never see you again. I'm not meaning to be selfish or anything, please, let's just GO!"_  
_ I was in tears again now, on my knees in front of her, pulling on the front of her dress._

_"Fine," she said. "I'll come back when he's gone, let's GO!"_

_ She took my hand and lead me off into the woods._

I don't know who was affected more by my tale, Karane or Malon. Both had tears in their eyes by the time I was finished. But it was the bitterness in my voice in my next sentences that shocked them.

"So the fued would continue," I said "Mom tried to convince my siblings of her side of the story when he was out of the house, but they still wouldn't listen. Dad later tried to claim me, but my extended family hid me from him. After that, Mom partially got over her heartbreak by pouring her energies into raising me, now her only child. But she never gave up hope that they'd come back. Sadly, they never did."

"Sorry Zelda," Malon said afer awhile, giving me a hug.

"No, you'd found out sooner or later," I said. "I never saw him again. From then on, I had no silbings or father, too embittered by how they seemingally turned their backs on me and walked out on us. I've forgiven them since then, but I've never seen them since. So, I have no father or siblings."

Silence followed my story for awhile.

"Well," I said. "Are you two planning to try and get back to sleep?"  
"I don't know," Karane said. "I don't want to have to relive that dream again."

"Well, it's worth trying anyways," I said.

"And sometimes it's not," said another voice that didn't belong to any of us.

The three of us jumped in fright, nearly causing us to drop the lantern. But someone caught it before it could impact the ground. By it's light, we reconized the face of Impa.

"Impa?" I said, shocked. "How'd you know we were up?"

She smiled at me.

"I check in on the three of you every now and then," she said. "You're bound to be targets when the ball starts rolling, so we're doing everything we can to keep you safe."

"We need your help girls," she continued. "Now."

She grabbed all of us by the back of our nightgowns.

"Impa, wait..."

We were pulled into darkness before any of us could issue another word of protest.

xxxxx

We came in the middle of a stand of what looked to be pine trees, who knows how far away. When we landed, the three of us, not being ready, tripped over each other, landing on the forest floor.

"Impa, please, at least give us a warning next time," Karane protested. "And I don't appreciate how you're going about this either."

Impa smiled at us, barely visible in the full moon.

"Sorry. It's not the way of the Shiekah. Let's get a move on, we don't have much time," she said, striding past us, heading towards the west.

"But," I protested."Don't we look a little..revealing out here in our nightgowns?"

"Serene," Impa said. "Could you get them some cloaks."

Serene seemed to come out of nowhere, handing each of us a cloak like the ones Karane and I had used to sneak to the Shiekah hideout. We put them on, following the two Shiekah through the trees, not having any choice in the matter.

"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see," Impa said.

We walked on in silence for what seemed like hours, occasionally tripping over a branch or rock which we couldn't see by the moonlight. Impa and Serene didn't seem to have brought any lanterns, with Impa using the one that Karane had been holding earlier, which didn't help us of course. Eventually, a hill came into view, a mound that rose above us, it's summit obscured from us by the trees and bushes that dotted it's sides.

"Dark Mound Hill," I said as it came into view.

"You know it?," Impa said, surprised.

"Of course I know it," I said. "I used to play in this area when I was kid."

The five of us started to climb the hill, which made me a little apprehensive. Many scary stories abounded in the Faron Woods about the hill, which was believed to be haunted. As we approached top, we passed under a stone archway that had the Triforce emblem carved into it's stone beams.

"What is this place?" Karane asked Impa.

"Nobody knows," Impa said. "We discovered this by accident and saw some very interesting things that we couldn't make heads or tails of, but we believe will give us clues to what is threatening Hyrule. However, with your skills, you should be able to decipher the clues contained within these ruins."

"Why can't you do it?" Malon prodded.

Impa glared daggers at the black-haired girl, as though wishing she could give us a good anwser, but she didn't respond. By then, we'd reached the summit of the mount. We were standing in the remains of a building, that looked like the remains of a castle tower. What was left of the stone walls formed a circle around a chipped and battered stone pedestal. On it was what looked like to the remnants of a huge mirror. Ancient writing inscribed around the base and remnants of the mirror itself

"No one has been able to read that writing," Impa said. "That's where you girls come in. You decoded the scroll, you should be able to undestand this."

"Not a problem," I said. "I can read ancient Hylian fluently."

"Well, read it," Serene urged, cutting across anyone else who dared to speak.

"Herein lies the remnants of the Mirror of Twilight, removed from Arbiters Grounds by Queen Zelda, and placed here as a reminder that a Hero and a Princess will always arise to combat the darkness that threatens the land known as Hyrule."

Before anyone could say anything else, the entire area lit up quite literally. Lines of light shot out from where I was standing, going outward in every direction, bathing the mound as brightly as morning.

"What the..." Impa and Serene said together, clearly not expecting this. "Zelda, stay where you are!"

That's the last thing I want to hear, but I'm soon transfixed by what happens when the light reaches the mirror remnants. It 'activates', turning white where the mirror should have been, creating a dark portal behind it. A woman stepped out the portal, dressed in a black robe with symbols on it that I'd never seen before. She had red hair that flowed donw to her shoulders, blue skin, and red eyes. She walked towards me, staying within a dark area that was cast directly from the portal.

"Princess Zelda, we meet again," she said.

"I'm sorry," I said, frightened, and fighting the urge to run. "But I've never met you before."

She smiled.

"My name is Midna, I'm refering to your ancestor, the Princess Zelda who placed that mirror remnant there. I'm the ruler of Twilight, like my own ancestor, was before me, who was also named Midna."

My mind raced at a thousand thoughts per second, trying to remember about what I'd been taught about the Hero of Twilight. When what I could recall all that came back to me, it didn't make any sense. _How could the Twilli return to this world _

So," I said, trying to grasp something to ask. "Um, why are you here then?"

She was looking at my outfit, and ignored my questionds. This is becoming too common; ignored questions.

"You aren't dressed like a Princess," she said, changing the topic.

"Well," I said, embrassassed. "I, uuhh..kinda left my outfit back.."

"Well, that's beyond the point Princess," she said, looking me straight in the eyes. "Your presence reactivated the Mirror for just a few minutes so I don't have time. My world has once again been brought into conflict with yours."

"Wh..wha.t? How?" was all I could get out

"The Sages' seal that was cast after the Hero of Twilight defeated Zant that has separated our two worlds has been weakened. A rogue ruler has been raising an army from among my subjects. By the time we found out about it and attacked him, he'd escaped to this world. Now he has..."

Suddenly she vanished before our eyes.

"Midna!" I cried, shocked.

She immediately rematerialized in front of me, locked in a cage held by a dark cloaked figure, the same one from my dream. _I need to rescue her. _Immediately and without any thought, I grew a large fireball between my hands. I locked eyes with Midna one more time before I was about to release it in a bid to free her. I was shocked to find her shaking her head. The message clear.._don't do it._ The portal soon closed, taking Midan and the cloaked man with it. _Why did she stop me?_

The full realization of what she had said came crashing over me. The threat was coming from the Twilight Realm.

"Well, that clears matters up," Impa said. "We must spring into action at once."

"What's next?" I asked Impa, turning to face here.

"We're taking you back to the ranch," Impa said. " Be ready to act if one of us comes calling. It's clear whoever is planning this is planning to strike faster than we anticipated. We're going to need everyone to be ready to stop this from coming to pass.

"Come, let's get going," Serene said. "I'm teleporting you back. Impa's depleted too much of her magic.

She grabbed us by the back of our nightgowns and pulled us into darkness again. We came out back at home in the hallway where we'd been originally.

"See you soon," Serene said, vanishing.

"Well," Karane said. "Let's go back to bed. Who knows what the morrow will bring."

***Princess Zelda's outfit is based on Zelda from Spirit Tracks and Wind Waker**


	9. Chapter 8-Turmoil

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Warning; This has more violence in it than past chapters

Chapter 8-Turmoil

"_Princess Zelda..Zelda...Princess Zelda..." _said an unfimiliar voice near my ear.

"Hmmm...mmm..." I moaned, still blissfully asleep, turning over.

I felt someone start softly shaking me.

_"Zelda..Princess Zelda..."_

"Go...away..." I muttered in my sleepy state. "Not...n..ow...Ka...rane..."

"ZEELLLLDAAAA!"

I jolted awake, shock flooding through my veins. I rolled over and toppled off my bed and onto the floor, landing on my stomach with a loud crash. A headache immediately spread across my forehead.

"Ow," I muttered, sitting up on the floor and holding my head, taking in the room.

It took a moment for my eyes to pick out a tiny creature staring at me from out of the darkness, sending fear shooting up my spine. It had a tiny black/blue body, a unique headgear set covering one of it's two red eyes, and an orange thing attached to the back of it's headgear.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" I screamed in fright, scared out of my mind.

"Princess Zelda," the imp said again. "Please, settle down, it's me Midna."

"Midna?" I repeated, confused.

The door burst open a minute later and Malon and Karane came tumbling into the room, both having tripped over each in the race to get to me.

"Zelda, what...is...going..on?" Karane said, breathing heavily.

"Yeah...wha...t...?" Malon panted.

"Let me introduce myself please," Midna said, floating in front of them so that they could clearly see her. "I'm Midna, the ruler...well the former ruler of Twilight. I talked to all of you at the mirror in Faron Woods. Sorry, but like my ancestor, the new usurper has cursed me to an impish form."

"Oh," I said, getting up from the floor. "Well, next time, please don't give me wake-up calls like that."

Midna was looking at my rather skimpy white nightgown. I felt pink creeping into my face as she looked me over.

"You still aren't dressed like a princess," she said. "Even your nightgear isn't appropiate.

Frustration built within my chest. _What is it with this girl being so insistent I be dressed like a princess? _Thoroughly frustrated, I went to my wardrobe and rummaged around in it until I located my royal attire. I threw the pink and purple dress on the bed, along with my tiara.

"Happy?"

She didn't respond, just continuing to stare at the robes I'd thrown onto my bed.

"You sure are a feisty one," she commented.

"Midna," I said. "Let me give you an update on the situation here in Hyrule. While I am the Princess, I'm not on the throne."

Midna scrutizined me closely for a moment.

"Oh, that explains the lack of apparel," she said. "You know, I'm sensing that your royal attire is imbued with magic."

"It is?" I repeated.

"Yeah," she said, moving closer and touching it with her hand, seeming to be analyzing it.

"But never mind, back to the cloaked guy. Okay, I don't know his name, but he's taken over the Twilight Realm and intends to try to take over Hyrule as well. He imprisoned me and changed me to the form of an imp, but he forgot that imps can escape tight places."

This triggered bouts of laughter from myself, Karane, and Malon.

"Nice to meet you Midna," Malon said, once we had subdued our giggles. "Cloakman doesn't seem the brightest though."

"Cloakman?" I repeated, giggling uncontrollably.

"My name for him. He has to have a name, even if we don't know his real one."

"She's right," Midna interjected, letting out a few giggles of her own. "Before he took the throne, we fought. He made tons of stragetic blunders, but none of my attacks seemed to work on him. He was a total pansy, but his power was too great. I'm guessing that there's more to it than just him."

"Well, it won't do us any good to speculate on it right now," Karane said, ending the conversation. "Let's all get to bed. We can discuss it furthur in the morning. Midna, why don't you sleep in Zelda's closet for the night, there's supposed to be a full moon later tonight."

"That was what I was thinking," Midna responded. "I can linger in your shadows during the day."

"Great," Malon said. "We'll discuss this furthur in the morning."

xxxxxxxx

I woke up the next morning, my eyes slowly opening expecting to see the Sun flowing in through my window, revealing the dawn of a new day. Instead, black streaks were erupting past my window. My eyes flashed open, and I was now fully awake. I threw off the covers, got to my feet, ran to the window and looked outside. The world was a miserable-looking was the best way I can describe it. Black stripes were erupting from every inch of the ground, shooting upward into the sky as far as the eye could see. The sky was a white color, instead of the natural blue. It was like stepping right into a nightmare.

I tore away from the window and raced to the corridor. The same situation was present there as well. As I looked out, a familiar voice creeped into my head.._my child, grab your cloak the Shiekah gave you last night_. I didn't question the source as it was the only thing that represented reality for me right now and it had been right before. I closed the door and moved to the wardrobe, opening it and finding the cloak. Just as I was about to take it down from the rack in the wardrobe, a crumpled up yellow piece of paper I instead found a note written on a crumpled up piece of parchment. It read;

_Keep out of my way Princess._ _Let the Twilight girl be an example to you._

This confused me even more, adding to the million questions that I was already dealing with. Then one thought struck that pushed them all out of my severly occupied mind;_ Malon, Karane, Orielle, Talon...are they alright?_ Dread filled me at what might have happened to them. I grabbed my bow, strapped the quiver of arrows over my back, and hurried out of my room back into the corridor, seeing a flash of white before I plowed right into someone, crashing to the ground along with whoever it was.

"Ouch, ow, uuuhhh," the two of us moaned together.

I froze; the voice belonged to Malon.

"Malon? Thank goodness you're alright," I said, embracing her and her me.

"Of course I'm alright," she said, helping me back get to my feet.. "You wouldn't happen to have any idea what has happened outside, would you?"

"No," I anwsered.

"Where's Karane?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said, tears leaking out of her eyes. "But there was this note."

She held out a similar-looking note to mine. It said in a simple, but scribbled hand; _Girls stay away, or your friends will get hurt. Don't come anywhere near Hyrule Castle. _

"I found this where Midna took refuge after waking me up last night," I said, handing my note it to her.

Malon read through the note, her eyes still watery.

"They've both been kidnapped," I concluded. "We need to rescue them."

"How do we do that?" Malon prodded, wiping away the tears that were flowing down her face.

"I have no idea," I said. "Mom, Dad, we need to check to see if they're alright. Oh, let's grab your sword and your black cloak the Shiekah gave you."

"Why the black cloak?"

"I'm not sure. The Triforce mark on the back of my hand told me. We also need to change into some proper clothing as well."

Me and Malon returned to our rooms. I took off everything, choosing my navy blue dress that I'd been wearing on the day that I ended up on the Lon Lon's doorstep. Orielle had managed to salvage it at my request; it represented the last link for me to my past life, a life that had been shattered and was now gone for good. My new life had also been shattered by the revelation that I'm Princess Zelda. Wearing this dress brought this all back to me.

The door opened, driving these thoughts from my mind. Malon walked into the room, dressed in the black cloak, her blade in a scarab hanging at her waist. Remembering suddenly why I was there, I pulled the black cloak over my head and strapped the bow and quiver of arrows to my back. We descended the stairs in silence to the kitchen.

"Now what?" Malon said. "Should we consult the Shiekah?"

"Probably the best..."

BANG. Suddenly the front door by the kitchen was blasted clean off it's hinges and two ugly looking monsters walked in. They walked on four legs, their bodies were entirely black, execpt for a red symbol on their ugly, shield-like heads.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" the two of us screamed, whirling around and heading for the back door.

That door was burst in as well and two more came in. We ran back the way we came as they closed in, leaving us no option but to run back up the stairs.

"Why didn't they take us as well?" Malon asked.

"No idea," I said. "We should focus on escaping."

"How?" Malon said. "Wait, your window. It's lower than Karane's is."

"RUN!" Malon yelled one of the monsters took a swipe at her, they having climbed the stairs behind us.

We raced into my room and bolted the door. We crossed it to the window, looking down at how long the drop was, which luckily wasnn't too far. Malon drew her blade, and smashed the window through. The door started ratting and cracks appeared in the wood around it. It erased all fear from my mind. I leapt first, followd by Malon. Both of us landed rather hard on the ground below. Without waiting, we sprinted for the stables, which mercifully still had Edona and Epona tied up to them, still sadled from working in the fields the day before.

"Do you know how to ride?" Malon inquired.

"Yeah," I said, fumbling with the knot that tied Epona to the stables. "How tight do they tied these knots?"

"Move," Malon said.

She pulled out her blade again and cut the knots clean through. I climbed onto Epona while Malon took Edona.

"Ready?" I said.

She nodded.

"Yaahh," I said, slapping the reigns.

Malon copied my motions and we were off, heading towards Castle Town. After we'd been riding for awhile, Malon had a brainwave.

"I have an idea Zelda," she shouted over the wind. "Let's visit the Temple of Time. Perhaps Rauru the priest will have anwsers for us."

"Let's just hope they didn't get him too," I added, before spurring Epona on faster.

xxx

To our surprised, when we reached the Temple of Time, we found Rauru the priest was waiting for us in the main part of the building, along with _Link_.

"Link, what're you doing here?" Malon asked upon seeing him.  
"I was summoned here by Rauru after the Shiekah I was staying with mysteriously vanished," he explained.

I ignored the look he gave me and turned my attention to Rauru.

"Do you have any information that could help us? We have reason to believe that Orielle and Talon have been taken to Hyrule Castle as prisoners."

The look Rauru gave me was one of concern, but it made look even older than he actually was.

"Something much darker is behind it, and I fear you might find out what sooner than later," he said. "All I really know is that the darkness is radiating from Hyrule Castle itself. If you can, try to find whatever is causing that and shut it down. But it has caused all those without Shiekah blood flowing in their veins, non-holders of the Triforce, to turn into some sort of ghost."

"Ghosts?" I queried, confused.

"Yes, just floating white spheres of light," Rauru said. "It seems the only place that hasn't been affected by the darkness yet is this Temple, but I don't know how long it'll last. Now, there is a tunnel in this temple that will lead you directly to the Castle."

"Do you have weapons or know of any place where we can replenish our stockpile?" I queried. "We're going to need all the weapons we can get."

"The Temple of Time does have a small armory, but there isn't much there, but help yourself to whatever you need."

He waved his hand. A cracking sound soon filled the chapel and my eyes bulged in surprise as the stone wall that had the Shiekah emblem hidden in it simply melted away, revealing a large tunnel behind it.

"Hurry, the fate of Hyrule is now in your hands," Rauru urged.

With no furthur ado, we cautiously approached the secret passageway and walked into it, memories of the last time I was exploring a tunnel in the still very fresh in my mind. Luckly no Bokoblins or Staflos threatened us. Link went first, followed by me and Malon. After we'd gone awhile, he began to talk.

"So, Zelda, about last time," he said.

"Now's not the time Link," I sternly him. "The entire Lon Lon family lives and Hyrule's future is at stake. We can discuss it later."

"Sorry," he said. "It's just that...that...it's been two months that you've been able to think about it."

In reality, I hadn't had time to give it a lot of thought. Too much had been happening. It was clear I couldn't avoid this subject.

"To be honest with you Link," I said. "I haven't given it any thought. I'm sorry, but so much has been happening over the last two months, and now...I'm, I'm, just in so much turmoil right now. I don't even know who I am anymore. I..I...just, all of these expectations, I just don't know if I can do what I'm meant to do."

I trailed off, overwhelmed by my own thoughts.

"Oh, Zelda," Malon said, taking me into an embrace. "It's not fair to have such a burden put upon you."

"Look Zelda," Link said. "I never asked for my burden as well. But we really don't have a choice. Hyrule is in danger and only we can save it."

"I know," I said. "Look, I'll go on a date with you, but not right now, it obvious that we can't, and it might not happen until we sort out this mess."

Link's face brightened coniserably at this.

"Ok, you're right, we've got too many other things that won't let us," he said.

"So Link," Malon chimed in, letting me go. "Where are you from?"

"Castle Town," Link said.

Our conversation continued for awhile as we walked down the tunnel as Link told the two of us about himself, earning giggles at some of his more humorous exploits he told us about. The passageway twisted and turned, going rose and fell, until it ended at a stone wall.

"Now what?" Malon asked.

Link and I began feeling the wall, looking for something that could open, until Link gave it a shove in frustration, and it simply slid away to the side. We found ourselves in a dank, dark stone corridor, dimly lit by torches. At both ends of the corridor, was a flight of stairs, leading upward.

"Which way do we go?" I asked no one in particular/

"How about left," Malon suggested. "I'm good with directions."

With no other ideas, we followed her suggestion. Five minutes later we hit a dead end. Both me and Link glared at her.

"Sorry, maybe not in castles," she said, a pleading look on her face. "But how are we going to find them. We could wander in this huge castle for days."

As if in anwser to Malon's complaint, we heard the grunting and high-pitched screams of Bokoblins. We flattened ourself against the wall as a parade of monsters came into our corridor. In the middle of all of them, bound and gagged, and tied to a stretcher that they were carrying, was _Midna._ I couldn't believe our luck. As they came down our passageway I put an arrow on my string and pulled it back to my ear.

"Zelda, what're you doing?" Link demanded.

"Freeing Midna," I replied, releasing the drawstring.

It struck the lead Bokoblin in the face, causing it to keel over and vanish in a cloud of purple smoke. The remaining few, finally seeing us charged down the large corridor, leaving Midna tied to the stretcher on the stone floor behind them.

"Great, now you've done it," Malon said.

Ignoring her, I unleashed as many arrows as I could before the horde of underwear-loving monsters could reach us, shooting down as many of them as I could. When they reached within several paces, I shouldered my bow and withdrew a rapier (a blade about half the size of a regular sword) that'd I'd grabbed before we left the ranch. Link drew his sword and shield, from while Malon unhitched her small broadsword. The three of us wait until they came within fighting distance. Instantly the corridor was filled with the sound of battles. I plunged my rapier into the first one to confront me, thrusting it aside and taking on the next one. Link took the lead, the most experienced out of the three of us, swiping and cutting with his blade, often multiple Bokoblins falling at falling victim to his techniques. Despite Link's efforts, a few did manage to get past him.

One of them charged at Malon. She deflected the first blow with her broadsword, then with an down cut sliced it's club in two, then plunged her blade into its belly. My next one was carrying a large sword. As it swung as me, I twirled in full circle to the side and dodged it's down cut. I the sliced it across the face. Discarding our quarry, me and Malon followed Link, who was effortlessly cutting down Bokoblins left and right.

"Malon, protect me," I said, putting my rapier back into my belt.

"What are you doing Zelda?" Malon said.

"Ending this."

I put an arrow on the string, but it proved to be difficult, with my hands trembling nerviously. Suddenly I heard squealing as two Bokoblins managed to get past Malon and headed straight for me. Just before they reached me, I managed to put it on the bowstring and channel my magic into it at the same time

"LINK, MALON, DUCK!" I yelled.

Malon and Link both dropped to the floor. I unleashed my golden arrow with my magic built up inside it. A flash of light illuminated the corridor for a brief second before it vanished. When light had lifted, the corridor was littered with the bodies of dozens of Bokoblins. We quickly cut down the few surviving survivors. We finally reached where they had left Midna. With one swipe, Link severed her bonds a dagger he'd was carrying.

"Thanks guys," Midna said. "That was some light arrow."

"No problem, hey, do you know where the other prisoners are?" I asked.

"Yeah, they are this way," she said.

She took off in the same direction which we had been fighting the Bokoblins. We followed her, coming out of the corridor that we'd been in, and found ourselves what appeared to a be a kitchen area, then through that into what appeared to be a massive ballroom. All were devoid of any decoration of any sort, just the black stripes rising from the floor. Occasionally we'd pass a floating white orb, but we didn't pay them any attention and it didn't seem like they they noticed us either.

Finally, we reached reached a point where a locked door lead to somewhere, in front of which was a patrolling moblin wielding an ugly looked club with spikes on it.

"How'd we get passed that one?" Link said, casting about for ideas.

Link's voice alerted big, fat, and ugly to our presence.

"Uh, oh," Link said, gulping.

"Way to go Linky boy," Malon said. "Go get him."

Before Link could respond in anyway, charged straight for us. Me and Malon dived backed up, readying our weapons. But it focused only on Link, competely ignoring us.

"Why didn't he attack us?" I asked no one in particular.

"You're cloaks," Midna informed us.

"Our what?" Malon repeated in disbelief.

"The cloaks you're wearing," Midna clarified. "They're imbued with some sort of magic that in the enviroment that's being cast, you look just like one of the spirits floating around, so some monsters can't see you."

"I could use a little help over here," came Link's voice.

"Oops, sorry," the three of us chorused together, racing over to help.

Me and Malon carefully slipped behind the moblin and drew our blades, plunging them into it's bag. Before it could react, Link swiped it across the stomach. He dodged out of the way before it collapsed to the ground. When it had vanished, it left behind a set of _keys._ Grabbing them, I plunged the first into into the keyhole in the wooden door, feeling very lucky as I turned it and heard the click signaling that it had been unlocked. I wrenched open the door to reveal ten cells. In the one at the very end of the hallway was _Orielle, Talon, and Karane._

"Mom, Dad, Karane," I said.

Three pairs of eyes looked at me in shock.

"Zelda, Link, Malon, how'd you find us?" Orielle asked, stunned.

The three of us raced down to their cells. I was about to put the key in when I stopped. Something was off.

"What is it?" Malon prodded. "Come on, unlock the door and let's get out of here."

"Something doesn't feel right," I said, but I couldn't quite put a finger on what.

I lightly touched the bars, which instantly glowed a dark red.

"Ow," I said, pulling back.

The bars had left large burns on my hand, like those you get from sunburns. Luckily they quickly healed over.

"They've been enchanted," I whispered.

Midna appeared out of nowhere to examine the bars. At the sight of her, Talon, Orielle, and Karane jumped.

"It's okay," I said. "She's on our side."

"Jumpy aren't they," Midna cooed, fingering the bars like I did but not getting burned. "Zelda, I'm going to need your help. This magic will take our combined efforts to lift."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"We need to channel our magic into the bars at the same time. Doing that will break the spell on it."

"Are you sure?" I said, not eager to touch the bars again.

"Relax Princess," Midna said. "Touch it after me and you won't be harmed."

Having really no other choice, I did as she directed and found I was not burned this time.

"Three, two, one..."

With that, I let the magic flow from my core into my hands and onto the bars. I chanced a glance at Midna and saw her doing the same thing. The bars began to glow and radiate unique, colorful light patterns.

"Enough," Midna called out after about a minute, and both of us backed away.

The bars vanished.

"What?" Malon said. "How'd that work?"

But it didn't matter; the Lon Lons were free. They pulled all of us into a group hug, execpt for Link, leaving him looking on fornlornly in the background.

"Um, Mom, Dad, Karane, let's go," I said in the middle of our hug. "We don't have much time."

They all let go of me and we began to walk out of the dungeons and upwards, Talon and Link in the lead.

"I used to visit this castle quite often in my youth," Talon informed us. "I know it like the back of my hand."

"We'll, we're only half done," Malon explained.. "We need to shut down whatever is causing this darkness to come over Hyrule. Rauru..

"Who's that?" Orielle and Talon said together.

"The priest at the Temple of Time," Karane informed them. "Malon, continue."

"He said that it was being generated within this castle, we need to find it and shut it down."

"I have a solution," Midna interjected. "I can trace it to the source. It's origin is from the Twilight as are it's effect, but it's somehow, different."

"How?" Link asked.

"I'm not sure," Midna said. "Maybe it'll be sorted out when we figure this out."

So our motley group set off, Link and Midna in the lead to find. Midna lead us up corridors and round staircases for the next twenty or so minutes while Malon and I filled the others in on what had transpired in our search for them. When we had come to a heavy wooden door Midna held out a hand, signaling for us to halt.

"It's coming from beyond this door," Midna said.

Link gripped the handle.

"Three...two...one..." he said, pulling on the door.

We slowly opened the door and slipped inside, Link insisiting he be in the lead. What we saw stunned us. We had found the throne room. It too, was completely bare of all decor and furniture. Cloakman was there as expected, but so was another man.

"That's King Matinus II," Talon said, shocked.

It was the first time I'd ever laid eyes on him. He was a rather porky man, shorter than I am, but taller than Karane, with balding brown hair, dark beady eyes, and a short mustache. Execpt he's not looking very kingly right now. Two black monsters like the ones that tore into the manor house are holding him captive by the arms, with a Staflos holding a blade to his throat.

"Welcome Princess Zelda," Cloakman purred in a voice that sent chills down my spine. "I was wondering when you would get here."

Link made to get in front of me, but anger was coursing through my viens. I was determined to deal with him myself.

"Get Orielle and Talon out of here," I snapped at him.

"We'll take care of that," Impa said, appearing behind us with Serene and Shiek. "Serene, Shiek."

Shiek and Serene grabbed Orielle and Talon before they could protest and vanished from the room. I swallowed my questions about why they hadn't turned up sooner and turned my attention to Cloakman.

"I was sure imprisoning them would get you and your friends here," he said, gleeful.

"And why do you require my presenece?" I replied, dreading the anwser.

"Because of this..." he said, waving a hand.

The Twilight darkness immediately dispsersed, causing Midna to seek refuge in our shadows. A whole crowd of people, whether in here voluntarily or not, was standing right in front of us, watching the entire scene.

"Look at the situation from my perspective Princess Zelda," Cloakman began, still keeping his hood on so I couldn't see his face.

The crowd gasped at his use of the term 'Princess Zelda'. I guessed the thoughts probably running through their heads; _the Royal Family line is supposed extinict, what is going on? _

"I've come to take over the kingdom, but there is no one who can surrender it to me.."

"Why is that important?" I interupted.

"Reconition and a few other matters," he said. "This...usurper currently under lock and key doesn't cut it. And that's why you are here."

I could feel my magic leaking from my core and going into my limbs, aching to be released. My hands were vibrating, awash with so much power. I hid them behind my back to prevent them from being seen.

"Enlighten me," I said. "I'm still in the dark on what you're trying to get me to do."

"It's easy princess. I'll cut straight to the chase; surrender the kingdom to me or watch your people die."

I wasn't sure how to respond to this. Instantly, the story of the princess who surrendered to Zant to save her people's lives flashed through my memory briefly.

"Well, why don't you ask him," I said, pointing to Matinus, who's looking with a look of disbelief on his face. "He's the king; my family hasn't been on the throne for over 100 years."

"True, true," Cloakman crooned. "Fine then."

The Staflos plunged it's blade into Matinus's chest. The two black monsters dropped him to the floor where he lie, gasping for air, slowly dying. I was in shock; fighting the grief that was welling up inside me, threatening to cloud my thinking.

"Well, congratulations on your acension to the throne Princess," he said. "Now, back to what we were discussing...what is your anwser?"

There was only one option. I let the bow I was holding clanter to the ground. Cloakman began to speak again, but I wasn't listening. I was doing what my ancestor had done a few hundred years before, surrendering without a fight to save the lives of my people_. _I was jerked out of my thoughts by what he said next, which made my blood run cold.

"Now, finish the job that Matinus should've finish," he said, pointing at me. "Kill the Princess and her friends."

I grabbed an arrow out of my quiver, grabbed my bow off the ground and had it fixed and ready to fire. Before his monsters had taken another step, he was looking but the shaft of a light arrow.

"Forget it," I spat, letting the bowstring go.

The light arrow nailed the dark stalky figure right in the chest, pushing him back. Cloakman grunted in pain briefly, and pullled the arrow out of his chest, cracking it in two with his hand. But he didn't have any time to say anything more because Link had jumped into the fray, slashing him across the chest with his in the same place where my Light Arrow had impacted. Cloakman stumbled furthur back, the cloak though, still not coming off. _What is below that thing?_

"Now I know what I'm up against, my master will be unstoppable," he snarled. "I'll be back, more terrible than ever before."  
With that, he and all of his monsters vanished. Suddenly two masked persons dressed like the Shiekah appeared in front of us with Rauru the priest.

"Greetings Princess Zelda," Rauru said. "I thank my.."

He went silent at the gaze I gave him.

"Seeing that in our...situation, Hyrule has no ruler," he said. "As the representive of the Goddesses, my dear Princesss, I am authorized to ask that you assume your birthright and take your place on the throne as Princess Zelda. Will you acccept your birthright?"

The shock and the silence that his words produced in the hall was epic. But it was nothing compared to the thoughts swirling through my head. My stress level was now through the roof, my mind refusing to accept what was happening.

"Yes..." slipped out of my mouth involuntarily. "Wait! What?"

"Well then," he said. "With the blessing of Nayru, Farore, and Din, I hereby proclaim you Princess Zelda, heir to the throne, and ruler over Hyrule."

His voice echoed out louder than I'd anticipated. My gaze turned to the crowd and I was shocked to see them all bow to me. I looked back at Malon, Mom, Dad, Link, and Impa to see them all bowing too.

"It's good to see a true heir on the throne again," he said in a softer voice as everyone stopped bowing and broke into a round of applause.

"Your Majesty," said an umfamiliar voice to my left. "We request an audience with you immediately."

I whirled around and saw several men and woman standing behind my family and friends. They where were richly dressed in the robes of nobility. I assumed that they were officials.

"Please," I said, feeling faint. "Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Sure you majesty," they all said together, looking disappointed.

Impa grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Come, dear child," she said. "I'm sorry for how this transpired. I can see that you are drained emotionally too. Let's get you to where you can rest."

"I..I..need that," was all I could get out, my mind still numb.

We headed out of the the room with the crowd cheering. _How could they just put their faith in me like that? _Worries flooded my head, making it even worse. I barely noticed were we where going. Impa lead me through the halls, clearly knowing where she was going. She opened a door to what appeared to be a spare room, little more than a castle room, bare of all decorations execpt a bed in the middle of the room, a nightstand next to it, a plain warderobe in the corner. I collapsed onto the bed. Karane and Malon not long afterwards came into the room and both flopped on the bed next to me, also drained.

"Well," Malon said after awhile. "Now what?"

"I don't know," I said. "He got away from us. Now who knows what he'll do, especailly what he said. Oh, I'm am in sooooo much trouble."

"Princess..." Malon began.

I glared daggers at her.

"Sorry, Zelda, don't worry, we'll be here for you," she said with a smile. "We'll help you."

"Thank you," I said. "What would I do without you."

"Well, hopefully that'll never need to be anwsered," Karane said.

They both hugged me at the same time. Despite the comfort, my head is filled with all sorts of self-doubt and questions. _Nayru, Farore, Din, please just help me get through this._


	10. Chapter 9-Flight of the Princess

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

This chapter is dedicated to RickGiriamax, my second reviewer

Chapter 9-Flight of the Princess

Later in the day after the events in which Cloakman revealed himself and I became the Princess, Malon, Karane, and myself were by ourselves, in a spare bedroom off the to the left side of the throne room. It contained three beds, along with three massive wardrobes, one at the foot of each bed. The walls were bare, just the stone that was used to construct the castle itself. The floors were covered with red and blue rugs, while a door at the far end of the room lead to a bathroom. Karane had taken the bed closest to the door that lead to the throne room, while Malon was next, and I had the one the farthest away from that same door.

Talon and Orielle had headed off to the ranch to make sure everything was alright, leaving the three of us alone. We'd spent a long time discussing much of what had happened today and catching up on what had happened to each of us today. After we'd fallen silent for awhile, Karane turned to face me.

"...so now what Zelda?" Karane said.

"What do you mean by exactly do you mean by 'now what'?" I responded.

"What're you going to do now? About being the Princess?"

I sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I don't know," I said in a miserable voice. "But now that I look at it, it seems like it was coming eventually. And it's not like I can just run away from it without causing a whole host of problems."

"What do you mean by that?" Karane and Malon said together.

"Well, several things," I said. "First, I had a dream the night of the the blizzard in which my ancestor Zelda, the one who descended from the sky and Nayru appeared to me. They told me that it was about time for me to save Hryule again like my ancestors of old. Second, before my mom died, she switched from my first name, Mara, to using my middle name, which was Zelda. Third, she used my nickname that some of the other kids gave me for some reason, 'Princess of Destiny', and told me to go fulfill my destiny. She must've known, at least partially what our ancestry was."

I wiped away the tears that were threatening to spill down my face. Karane and Malon looked thunderstruck.

"Well, Zelda," Malon said. "You should be fine. After all you've got the mark of the Triforce within your hand."

"That's about the _only _thing that is keeping me sane right now. I just hope I don't blow it."

The door opened at moment and girl poked her head inside. She was about my age, had dirty blonde hair that she'd tied up in a bun, misty green eyes, and was about Malon's height. She had on the clothes of a maid and a smile on her face.

"Greetings Princess, Malon, and Karane," she said, coming into the room, and slightly bowing to each of us. "My name is Avalon, the newly-appointed Head Maid in the castle. I wanted to meet my charges."

"Head Maid?" I repeated, confused.

"Yes Princess," she said. "You clearly weren't raised royality."

"No. I was a peasant farmer before I landed here."

"The Head Maid is reponsible for all the housework done in the castle, that includes coordinating the other staff at the behest of the ruling monarch," she explained. "I was wondering if you wanted anything to be done at this time."

Silence followed her request. I couldn't think of what needed to be done.

"Well...I.. ."

"Well, I understand your Majesty," she said. "May I make a few suggestions?"

"Of course."

"First, why don't you redecorate the castle?" she suggested. "With your own family's crest insinigia and decor of your choosing. It'll feel more like home at and help establish your legimacy. Second, your coronation, when you will be officially crowned Queen. The Royal Council...an advisory body your Highness that advises the monarch...has offered to hold it tomorrow if you wish. Preparations though, must begin immediately for that to happen of course."

"Whatever you say," I said. "And Avalon, just call me Zelda."

"Okay, your...Zelda," she said, slipping back out the door again.

"Zelda, let's just go to sleep," Karane suggested. "It's been a long day for all of us."

_What would I do without these two girls? _I thought, walking to the wardrobe and opening it. To my shock it was full of my clothes.

"How'd did they get here?" I asked shocked.

Malon and Karane opened theirs as well to find the same result.

"No idea," Malon said. "Let's save it for tomorrow. I'm beat."

xxxxxxxxx

I put my head down on the desk. It was early the next morning since the events that had unfolded that propelled me to the throne, and I was already at my wits' end. I was at a desk working in a room next to the spare bedroom. It had bookcases on every wall filled with all sorts of books covering what seemed to be every subject in existence. A large desk occupied the middle of the room, where I was sitting. It was littered with papers, that I was struggling to get through.

At that moment, the door opened and Karane and Malon came in. Karane was dressed in a blue dress that had the Lon Lon Ranch logo on it, while Malon had on a red dress that had Malon's Womanwear's marking on it. I was dressed in my royal attire that the Trifrorce in my hand had given me a few weeks prior. Karane and Malon's eyes bulged when they saw what I was working on.

"I don't envy you at all Zelda," Malon said. "Too much paperwork."  
"Yeah," I had to agree. "And I don't understand half the terminology in these reports. And my schedule, a meeting with the Royal Council at noon, meetings with ambassadors from Terminia after that, an army review, then my coronation tonight. And all this paperwork needs to be done by noon."

To make matters worse, I didn't sleep much last night and was feeling the effects of it. And you add all the events of the past few week and all the stress it had caused over time, my entire body was protesting this morning. I needed a break so badly, and I was feeling so miserable. I was jerked out of my misery when pain shot up into my spine. I fought the urge to double over as I clearly reconized what was happening; the stress of the last few weeks was causing another outburst to happen.

"Karane, please do me a favor?" I said, grimacing as the pain spread thoroughout my body, and biting my tongue to stop crying out.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Stay with me while I have my next outburst," I said, getting to my feet, and bolting for the door.

"What?"

I was already halfway to the door, when she seemed to realize what I meant. I burst out into the hallway, which mercifully was deserted. I ran for the spare bedroom where the three of us had slept the night before, hoping to make it to a place that was comfrotable, barely getting there before the pain intesified, causing me to collapse to the floor at the foot of Malon's bed. Malon and Karane came into the room behind me.

"Malon, stay out here, make sure no one else comes inside," Karane instructed, taking charge.

"Got it," Malon said.

Avalon came into the room at this point in time.

"I saw the Princess, what's happening?"

"Get out," Malon said, hustling her towards the door.

"But wait...Princess what's happening? Are you doing something to her?"

"Avalon, get that, that's an order," I yelled at her.

Malon hustled Avalon out and closed the door behind them. My breathing was becoming labored and cold sweats were repeatedly breaking out on my forehead, sending beads of sweat down my face. I felt my fingernails dig into the palms of my hands as the pain intesified to levels equal to that of my previous outburst two months prior.

"Zelda, breathe deeply," Karane said. "Try to focus on my voice instead of the pain. We'll get through this."

I nodded as the first round got ready to escape. The pain forced my eyes shut as Karane helped me sit up and embraced me. The first round escaped, tearing at the muscle tissue as the made it's way out. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't stop the scream that escaped my lips.

"Aaaahhhhhh," I screamed in pain.

My breathing grew ever more labored as the next round prepared to escape. Karane wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. There was one silver lining though; the pain didn't seem as bad as last time.

"Aaaahhhhh."

Another round pulsated forth from my body. My body was shivering, recoiling from the shock. _When will this end?_

"Okay Zelda," Karane cooed. "Stay strong, I know the worse is coming, but we'll get through this."

"I...I...do...n't...ne..ed..the..remind.."

Then it hit, wave upon wave of magic spilled out from my core and into the room, tearing at the muscle as it went. My body recoiled in shock as each major outburst sprang forth. Karane did the best she could, keeping me in an embrace, wiping the cold sweat off my head, but nothing could take away the pain. I lost all since of time and place. When the last wave had finally left my body, I was left shuddering and my body spasming uncontrollably. I was so weak and exhausted, that I slumped against my sister, unable to hold myself up.

"Malon, you can let everyone in now," Karane.

The door opened at her words and in came concerned maids and guards, attracted no doubt by my screaming. I'm sure I was quite the sight to behold. My body still spasmed every now and then, my hair was probably a complete disaster, my face was covered in cold sweat, and my tiara had fallen off my head onto the floor next to me.

"Please, get us a doctor immediately," Karane barked at them.

"H...hurry," I said. "Don't you dare think about taking Karane!"

I said it because several of the guards were moving towards her, clearly intending to take her away. Instead they filed out of the room to go get the doctor. The few maids that had come in, including Avalon stayed.

"Hurry, help me get the Princess on the bed," Karane said.

Three of the maid rushed foreward to help Karane. Under her instruction, they helped lift me to Malon's bed, several other castle staff had added several blankets to it make it more comfortable.

"I'm...I'm fine," I said as they laid me on it. "I just..need...some..rest, that's all."

At that moment, a man walked into the room. Completely bald, he had a white coat on over a brown shirt, and blue trousers. He carried a satchel at his side.

"Hello Princess," he said, looking at me in my terrible state, laying out his instruments on the bed at my feet. "You look terrible. What happened?"

I didn't feel up to the task of explaining everything, so Karane what had happened. He looked quite bewildered by the end of it.

"Do you know of any remedies that can restore her strength, potions, or anything like that?" Karane prodded.

"Yes," he said, breaking out of his trance, now rummaging through his bag. "Here."

He pulled out a flask of a red potion. I'm guessing that it's a Heart Potion.

"And one more thing," he added, pulling out a piece of paper. "She's clearly not in any state to do anything today. This will excuse her for the day."

"Good," I said. "I need the rest anyways."

My eyelids were drooping heavily. Karane and the doctor noticed this.

"Here, before you doze off, drink," she said, putting the flask into my hand.

The doctor held out a paper which clearly stated I was in condition to work due to overwork and stress. I downed the heart potion in one gulp, feeling the liquid work it's way down into my stomach.

"Good night Zelda," Karane said, pulling the blankets over me.

"Good night, Karane," I mumbled as I fell into the clutches of sleep.

xxxxxx

I woke up sometime later feeling much better, but still worn out. Malon and Karane were at my bedside in chairs. Karane had her nose buried in a book while Malon was fast asleep.

"Karane," I muttered weakly.

She immediately jerked out of the book she was reading.

"How long have I been out?"

"Twelve hours," Karane said. "You missed the rest of the day and you were out through the night. It's morning right now."

"Well, that probably means a backlog," I moaned.

The door opened and Avalon came in holding a trey of with toast, jam, porridge, and milk.

"Your Majesty," she said. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Call me Zelda. If we're going to be around each other, we might as well skip the formalities."

"Okay, Zelda," she said. "Here's your schedule for today. I put it together for you because of what happened yesterday. If it's too much, we could still change it."

I took the piece of paper she held out to me and looked at it.

_1\. Meeing with Terminia ambassador_

_2\. Rest Period_

_3\. Meeting with economic ministers_

_4\. Rest Period_

_5\. Coronation_

A smile slowly cracked my face, particularly at the fact that I don't have to do any paperwork.

"Well," I said, sitting up. "Let's get started. The sooner we get this over, the better."

"Okay Zelda," Karane said. "We need to get you out of that nightgown."

As if in anwzer to her question, the door opened and in came four maids holding dresses out for us. They had a lilac green one, which they gave to Malon, a red one with the 'LR' on it, which they gave to Karane. Last, they gave me my royal attire.

"How'd you get these?" I asked.

"The Lon Lons sent them over," one of the maid informed me. "While you were out."

First, Karane changed (we all turned our backs in turn on each other), followed by Malon. My royal attire took sometime to get into to, and Karane and Malon had to help in the final stages, especailly since I am rather clumsy at the moment.

"So what are you two going to do?" I inquired.

"Oh, we were thinking about helping with the coronation or just staying here," Karane said. "You'll need all the support you can get."

"Thank you," I said. "Would you like to stay through my first official meetings as Princess?"

"Of course," they chorused, excited.

"I've always wanted to be in a real meeting with royality," Karane said excited.

"Well, congrats," I said. "You'll be my attendents."

The door opened and Avalon came into the room. She gave me a paper which had the bios of all of my visitors.

"Your.." began Avalon, who instantly quelled at the look I gave her.

"Zelda," she corrected, earning a smile and a nod from me. "The ambassador from Terminia."

At her words, a large pudgy men walked into the room, dressed so awkwardly it was all the three of us could do not to start giggling. He was dressed in a green military uniform, and had medals hanging off his chest. He bowed, but his white hair quickly proved to be a...whatever you call it. It slipped off as he deeply bowed, earning stifled giggles from the three of us. When he rose out of his bow, it fell back onto his head. Avalon, meanwhile, backed out of the room to give us some privacy.

"Um..Ambassador Rander," I said not quite sure what to say.

"Princess Zelda," he said, his eyes flickering from me to Karane and Malon sitting beside me.

"Oh, My attendants," I said, gesturing to both of them. "I've been feeling a little under the weather since yesterday, hence way I'm meeting you on a bed rather than a throne."

"Well your Highness," he said. "Due to the recent turn of events, I will not doubt be instructed by the King of Terminia to ascertain your intentions towards us. I was wondering if you had such an anwser for me at this point in time?"

"Um, well, I don't know. To be honest I really haven't had much time to review everything, considering I just assumed the throne a little over a day and a half ago and I was indisposed all of yesterday."

"Maybe I could help you with that," Rander said. "I've been a Ambassador to Hyrule for well over a decade. May I explain how our alliance has worked?"

I perked up; it could save me a lot of reading.

"Sure, enlighten me," I said.

I soon came to regret that decision. He took it as a chance for a lecture and for the next thirty or so minutes he gave me an in-depth history of the land of Terminia and the relationship of it to Hyrule. While this might have been interesting and all, the way he told it, in a monotone drone, pratically invoked boredom. I soon found myself zoning out the longer he talked, only coming too when he said something that made my blood run cold.

"Due to the injustices Matinus inflicted, we have decided to terminate the alliance between Terminia and Hyrule," he said.

I was confused. All had started off good, what caused the sudden change in mood. I glanced at Malon, Karane, and Avalon, all of whom looked as confused as I was.

"Wait a minute," I said, grasping for something to say, perhaps to reverse what is happening. "That was then, this is now."

"My young Princess," he said. "Surely you're not that naive at what Matinus had done during his reign."

He was pushing some sore spots. I felt anger rising in my chest.

"I'm fully aware of what that idiot did as King," I responded. "He slew an entire village to try to eradicate me, but he failed."

This guy was really pushing. My magic was aching to escape from my hands, eager to teach the source of my discomfort a lesson. I managed to contain my magic, but I let my temper get the best of me.

"Fine then," I said, resigned to the fact that all the damage Matinus and his father had done would take longer to heal than I'd anticipated. "Leave. I don't have room for bozos like you in my kingdom. Maids."

A curly-haired red hair maid entered the room.

"Have the guards help Rander clean out his quarters and have a carriage waiting for him to conduct him home as soon as possible."

"Yes Your Majesty,"

Rander the Ambassador seemed stunned.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, I'm Terminia's personal representive. You don't seem to understand how ambassadors work. They help to keep the peace between nations, even those that had no official relations."

This infuriated me even more, especially with what I knew from the bio I'd just read.

"Really Rander," I replied. "Are you saying that because it's true, or because Matinus padded your wallet every now and then?"

He looked take aback by my question. He didn't anwser, so I continued on. On the bio I'd been given, it had listed quite a few presents, for lack of a better term, that Matinus II had handed to Rander, including hunting trips at no expense, gold, and servants, but judging by what Matinus had done, I wouldn't be surprised if they were slaves.

"Yes, I am aware of what Matinus has done, and I'm making sure it doesn't happen again," I snapped. "Oh, and tell your king if he desire to replace his ambassador, send someone who doesn't abuse my time."

With that, a squadron came into the room guards and escorted them out. Malon and Karane were staring at me with a mixture of surprise, amusement, and pride.

"Good job Zelda," Malon said. "You showed him."

"Yeah," I moaned. "I know I kinda lost my temper, but I won't be surprised if this is only the first of many such occasions."

Avalon came into the room, with a look of shock on her face.

"Good job Princess, for a person who only became royality yesterday, that sure was impressive," she said, her face glowing. "Everyone execpt Matinus has hated that guy for years."

"Were you hired under Matinus?" I inquired.

"No," she said. "After you took over, some of the council who had depised the king decided to give the castle a makeover. They cleaned out the staff, and hired younger maids like myself, to perhaps, help you feel more at home."

"Well," Karane said, impressed. "Give them our thanks."

"Second that," I added.

Avalon blushed slightly as she left the room. The rest of the day went smoothly, well almost. Unless you counted the incident when I nearly fireballed two of the economic ministers when they suggested I wasn't meant to rule. Honestly, it wasn't like I actually choose this job. Did they think I actually asked for this?

"Good job Zelda," Malon commented as the last economic minister filed out of the room. "How did you know the anwsers to all of those questions?"

"I didn't," I said, shocking both of them. "I had a cheat sheet supplied by Avalon the entire time."

To our pleasant surprise, Impa snuck into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Congrats Princess," she said, bowing to me.

"No, you don't bow to me," I said. "So now what? I'm still worried what Cloakman might do. You heard what he said."

"We're looking into that as we speak with the help of Midna," Impa said.

Midna popped out of Impa's shadow.

"I can't get back into the Twilight Realm, someone has blocked it off," she informed us.

"Another thing," Impa said. "I've had Shiekah scouring ancient texts looking for how we can tackle this problem. The anwser seems to lie with the Sages."

"The Sages?" Malon repeated. "Who are the Sages?"

"The Sages are indiviluals who wield immense power and have been instrumental in Hyrule's history. They represent six different elements; Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit," Karane sputtered out.

I could only marvel inwardly at how much Karane knows.

"Correct Karane," Impa said. "The Sages haven't been seen or heard from in hundreds of years since the Hero of Time. They sealed away the dark lord Ganondorf, and then tried to execute him but failed. It took the Hero of Twilight and the Princess Zelda of that era to take him down. But there is one Sage that we do know of."

"Who?" me, Malon, and Karane said together.

"You Zelda," Impa said, shocking all three of us. "As possesser of Wisdom, you are the leader of the Sages and a Sage yourself."

"What?" I said.

"You are the leader of the Sages," she repeated.

"Some leader I am," I said, snorting in disbelief. "Why haven't I seen said Sages if I'm the leader? I mean, it's been two months since the mark appeared on my hand. Surely that should have been more than enough time for them to manifest themselves to me."

"It's just one in a long line of mysteries Zelda," Impa said, looking very weary. "Who is Cloakman? (Malon beamed at the fact that everyone is using her nickname for creepy) Why is he doing this? Where are the Sages? The Goddesses seem also to be keeping their peace on the subject, with no communication coming from them that we know of. Princess, please keep us appraised of any dreams you have, any. Your last one proved to be correct."

"I will Impa."

"So, we've determined that the best course of action is to do what the Hero of Time is said to have done. He visited the various temples in Hyrule, awakening the power of the Sages of that era. Only problem is we only know of three though; the Forest Temple in Faron Woods, the Water Temple near Lake Hylia, and the Fire Temple in Death Mountain. My scouts have reported that monsters have infested them. We hope that Link will clear them out..."

Suddenly, Impa stopped right in the middle of her sentence, walked to the door, opened it and went outside. A few seconds later she dragged a girl into the room. It was Avalon. _Did she just hear everything we just discussed? _She had a mixture of shock and dread on her face, which was quickly replaced by outrage when she saw I was there.

"Princess, what is this?" she asked. "One minute I'm doing my work, next moment this...lady is dragging me into your quarters."

"She's a member of the Shiekah Avalon," I said. "Her name is Impa. Impa, though, why did you drag her into the room?"

"She was eavesdropping your Highness," Impa said. "Shiekah have enhanced skills, and it was through them I was able to detect her listening in."

"Is that true Avalon?" I prodded.

Fear flitted across her face; not the kind that most people get, but the kind you get when one is about to receive a severe punishment.

"Relax Avalon. I'm not going to discipline you. My mother always said use cushions before sticks. Please just tell us the truth."

"Yes, I did hear everything," she finally confessed.

Suddenly Shiek, and two other masked Shiekah ran into the room.

"Yes Shiek, what's the matter?" Impa asked before anyone else could.

"Bokoblins are storming the castle with Cloakman in the lead," Shiek said, panting. "We must get the Princess out of here."

Without a word, me, Malon, and Karane immediately bounded off the bed, but me still be weak from my outburst, felt my knees wobble before I toppled to the ground, unable to support my own weight.

"Oh shoot," I said. "I'm still weak from the outburst. Come on, your're coming too."

"What? But your Majesty..," Avalon tried to argue.

"No buts!"

We shouldered our weapons, but at that moment, something began pounding on the door. Everyone readied themselves, Malon pulling out her blade, Karane readying her knives, me putting an arrow on the bow, while sitting on the bed.

"Ready..on my mark.." Impa began.

"Um, there is a secret passageway," Avalon chimed in.

"Where?" Me and Malon said together.

She raced to the wall near one of the wardrobes. Feeling around she pulled a lever then pushed the wall aside, revealing a passageway.

"Let's go," Impa said, leading what was turning out to be a strange group.

So we went off. Impa and Avalon were in the lead, while Malon and Karane helped me, while Serene and Shiek followed behind us.

"Isn't this abandoning my people?" I asked as they helped me down a flight of stairs.

_On the throne for less than forty eight hours and this happens._

"No your Highness," Impa said. "You're leaving to save them."

I trusted Impa by this point, despite her quirks, enough not to argue, despite the fact that I wanted to. We descended the tunnel, our hearts sinking when we came to an enormous flight of stairs.

"Great," I said. "Stairs, does it really have to be stairs?"

"Forget it, Avalon, Karane, Malon, help Zelda down the stairs, me and Shiek will cover for you," Impa barked.

So we began, going one step at a time, the three girls supporting me, with Impa and Shiek following behind. It took much longer than usual, but we made it to the bottom of the twirling staircase. The passageway continued, leading into darkness.

"This leads out into where Malon's Womanwear is," Avalon explained. "It was contructed before your parents bought it."

"Great," Malon said, excited. "We can check up on my parents and get some Stamina Fruit for Zelda."

"Let's go," I agreed.

Our motley group headed into the tunnel, splashing through what seemed to be the sewers (disgusting!). I wast still very weak, depending upon the girls to help me through. Imagine that, it was mostly girls that were saving me! Finally we came to the end of the passageway. Impa pushed on the wall and it vanished, revealing a trapdoor.

"Here is were our journey together ends Princess," Impa said. "The Shiekah will be in hiding, as we always have been. If you need us, visit the hideout where we first met."

Without saying a word, I walked foreward and gave Impa a hug.

"Thanks for all you've done," I said. "Even if I was an idiot."

We let each other go.

"I'm entrusting the protection of the Princess to you Karane," she said. "Protect her and keep her safe. You are her Shiekah guardian now. Do not leave her side."

"But, I'm not a Shiekah," Karane protested.

"You've been trained in our ways," Impa reminded her. "Link will join you shortly."

Inside, I was giddy with joy. I'd have my best friend to be with me every step of the way.

"Go on, all of you," Shiek said.

The remainder of our group, namely Avalon, Karane, Malon, and myself continued on (them supporting me) the remainder of the tunnel to the trapdoor.

"Well," I said. "Our journey begins now."

"What journey?" Avalon interjected.

"Oh sorry Avalon," Karane said. "You heard too much. If you go back, I fear what they might do to you. Would you like to come with us?"

"Of course. I'd rather be with the Princess than with those monsters."

Leaving Malon and Avalon to support me, Karane went to the trapdoor and pushed, sliding the wooden door aside. To our surprise, someone was there waiting for us, someone we hadn't expected.


	11. Chapter 10-The Journey Begins

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Sorry it's taken so long my readers. School and others things have eaten up all my time. I also had storyline problems with this chapter. So here it is, enjoy.

Please drop a review as you go.

Chapter 10-The Journey Begins

A black wolf was standing before before us, twice the size of a regular wolf. It had the largest teeth of any wolf I'd ever seen, and a weird triangular formation on it's snout/face. It was sitting on it's rear end, growling at us, baring it's teeth.

"Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!" all of us yelled together, Karane slamming the trapdoor shut.

"Children, it's okay," a familiar voice called out from above us. "He's not harmful."

"Rauru?" Malon said, reconizing the voice.

"Yes, it's me children," Rauru said. "Open the trapdoor and come on out."

Trusting Rauru's words, Karane opened the trapdoor again to reveal a different scene before us. Rauru and the wolf were standing side by side in a small, dimly lit wooden corridor, as if they were dog and owner.

"What...what...what...is...that?" Karane stuttered out, quaking with supressed fear.

Malon set me down onto the tunnel floor while she went to go and try to comfort Karane.

"Karane," Malon said, gripping her shoulders. "Settle down."

"It's Link," Rauru said very calmly.  
"That's Link?" I repeated.

"Who's Link?" Avalon queried, reminding all of us that she had just joined our group.

Rauru threw her a questioning glance that was clearly directed at me.

"Oh, she's Avalon," I informed him. "She is or was the head maid at the castle until the takeover. She kinda was thrown in with us when the chaos ensued that forced us to flee. She also heard too much of a discussion the we were having with Impa, so she'd be in great danger if she left."

"You can call me Ava if you want," Avalon chimed in. "It's what I go by when I'm not at the castle."

"Well, I'm sure she has a part to play in this too. Anyways, let's get somewhere more comfortable," Rauru said.

With that, he turned around and started limping (using his walking stick) along the corridor. Malon, Ava, and Karane helped me while the wolf (or Link) trotted along beside the elderly priest. It didn't take long before Rauru pushed open a door to what appeared to be a sitting room. It was quite comfortable, with a a large fireplace at the far end of the room, with three brown plush couches arranged in a semicircle, each one large enough to seat two to three people. A large door was situated next to the fireplace.

"Nice house," I commented to Malon.

"Thanks," she responded.

The three girls helped me to one of the couches, putting me down on it's comfortable cushions. The wolf (or Link) stayed beside Rauru, throwing me an occasional glance or two as though what it could mean, I could not imagine.

"My parents," Malon asked Rauru. "Are they okay?"

"Yes, they are okay," Rauru said.

As in anwser to her question, the door burst open and her parents burst into the room.

"Malon," they said together when they saw her.

They both gave her bone-crushing hugs at the same time.

"I'm okay Mom, Dad," Malon said, trying to breathe.

"We lost thought we'd lost you," her mother whispered, tears streaking down her face.

They hugged their daughter and had quite the reunion for sometime until their gazes turned to the rest of us in the room.

"Welcome to our home, Princess Zelda, Karane, and who is this?" they asked, when they saw Ava.

"Avalon," she introduced herself. "But call me Ava please."

"Please to meet you Ava," Malon's mother said extending her a hand.

Before they could say anything else, massive black stripes erupted from the ground again; it looked exactly like the Twilight that had lead us to the castle and later, my in-promptu coronation in the first place. To my horror, Malon, her parents, and Avalon vanished, with white balls of light replacing where they had stood seconds before. Only Karane, myself, wolf Link, and Rauru the Priest remained untouched.

"What...what happened?" I said, shocked, looking at them from where I was lying down.

"The Twilight is back, but this time, it's much stronger," Rauru said. "The four of us must leave this place at once."

"Why? We can't leave them in this state," Karane protested, tears leaking out of her eyes. "We need to help them."

She went over to one of the floating white orbs and tried to touch it, but her fingers went right through it.

"We can't," I agreed. "They're our family. We can't just leave them."

"I agree with you completely," Rauru said, urgency in his voice now. "But it won't be very difficult to locate you four now that everyone has been turned into spirits but you. We cannot let that happen, or let Princess Zelda fall into the hands of whoever is behind this. We must go to the Temple of Time immediately."

Rauru waved his right hand. The walls of Malon's house vanished and we where once again inside chamber in which we had found ourselves after we had defeated the Staflos. I was lying on one of the white beds that ringed the walls of the chamber, while Karane was standing next to me.

"Will Malon and her family be alright?" Karane asked, trying to keep control of her emotions. "My parents...

"Yes, they will be alright," Rauru said. "But there is nothing more we can do for them right now. They have become spirits like everyone else."

"How do you know that?" I interjected, as worried as Karane is.

"I have my ways," Rauru said. "They will be alright. The best you can do for them right now is to keep as far away from them as possible. I will work with the Shiekah to make sure that they will be alright."

Despite Rauru refusing to budge an inch on the issue, he had a way of making you learn to trust him. Karane and I relaxed; she sat down on the bed I'm occupying. I had many questions to ask him, so I chose the first one that popped into my head.

"What do you mean when you say 'spirits'? Do you mean like ghosts or something like that?"

"No, not at all. They aren't dead, just in this state, with the Twilight and all, they exist as spirits, like the way you existed in the world that was untouched by Twlight as humans. The only way of helping them is to lift the Twilight from the kingdom of Hyrule."

"You wouldn't know how to do that, would you?" I prodded, anxious to get started as soon as possible. I wanted my family to be free of, whatever was plaquing the land of Hyrule.

"To do so," Rauru said. "First we must retrieve the Master Sword. Second we must awaken the Sages, and third the one who is behind all this must be defeated by the Hero and the Princess."

When Rauru said this, images from school and my mom's stories of past heroes and princesses flashed through my brain. In all of them, they'd gone through much tribulation to rid of the land of the evils that had consumed it.

"You make it sound so easy," I commented. "So, how do we do that, especially with Link in this form?"

"I can help with that," said a voice from nowhere that made Karane and I jump.

Midna appeared out of nowhere, landing on Link's back. This caused Link to growl at her, but she ignored him. She looked postively elated and had a wicked grin spreading across her face.

"I can help the Hero regain his human form like my ancestor did hundreds of years ago," she said, excitement permeating the tone of her voice. "I also know what we need to do to turn him back as well."

"Midna, where did you come from?" I asked, shocked.

"I've been following you after helping Impa," she said. "I've simply tagged along wherever you've gone, hiding in your shadows."

Me and Karane looked at each other with dazed looks on our faces, both thinking the same thought; _how did we not notice her trailing us?_

"Well," Rauru said, oblivious. "That takes care of..."

But at that moment, everything went white, literally. A massive golden serpent sprang into existance from out of nowhere, coiled up, as if ready to strike. But as it came into being, it would occasionally writhe like as if it were in great pain (which it probably was). It fixed Rauru with it's golden eyes and spoke in a pained voice.

"_...Hylia...Possesser of the Light Force...Princess Zelda...where is she? I've detected her presence..."_

Shock written all over his face, Rauru motioned for me to speak.

"I...I...I'm here," I stuttered out, frightened a bit by the massive snake in front of me.

At the sound of my voice, it turned around and looked at me. What I saw in it's eyes broke my heart. Pain, deseparation, yet hope it would all be over momentarily.

"_Save me...and my sisters...please..."_

With that, it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Me and Karane both threw each other confused looks. Link looked just as about as confused as we did (or, at least I think he did). But Rauru was looking, if it was even possible, older than he actually was.

"I never knew it was this bad," he mumbled to no one in particular.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That was Lanayru, one of the Light Spirits," Rauru said.

"Light Spirits?" Karane repeated, confused.

Rauru shook his head and sighed.

"A long story, which cannot be told here," he firmly said. "Let it sufficeth for now for me to say that if Lanayru and the other Light Spirits are harmed in any way, the situation will be ten times worse. They've been said to have been around since the beginning of Hyrule, and have knowledge inmeasurable. Therefore, you four must go to the Faron Woods where the Master Sword's last rumored location was last reported, then hurry to Zora's Domain to save Lanayru from whatever is afflicting her. The medallions said that the Master Sword could be found in the Lost Woods."

Dread filled me when he said 'Lost Woods'. It was said whoever entered there never came out again. Even I, who grew up in the Faron Woods, had never known of it's location. But, there were bigger obstacles that I could see that Rauru had somehow overlooked. The first concerned my outburst I had just had.

"Wait, I can't go in this condition," I interupted. "I had to have three girls help me walk."

"Eat some Stamina Fruits and get some sleep," Rauru said. "I usually find that it works when I feeling the same way."

"Stamina Fruits, where?" I asked skeptical, suddenly spying three Stamina Fruits on the bed next to me. "How..."

"Princess, please stop asking questions, there isn't much _time,_" Rauru scolded me. "Eat up, get some sleep, and prepare to be on your way by tomorrow. Hyrule is depending on the four of you."

With that, he slowly walked from the chamber, leaving us alone.

"Is it just me, or did he just become a little bossy?" I said in an undertone to Karane, picking up and biting into one of the Stamina Fruits.

"Well, he obviously cares about Hyrule and wants it to be saved," Karane reasoned. "Plus all the questions you were throwing at him, or were about to be thrown at him, probably pushed him over the edge. And when you take into account the situation we're in right now, I'd be the same way."

I had to concede her point. To be honest, I'd still hadn't fully made peace with the fact that I was the princess. It hadn't sunk in yet. It had all just happened so fast. I tossed the core of the first Stamina Fruit aside, which I had just finished, and bit into the second one.

"Well," I said through a mouthful of fruit. "There is a new set of questions that I'd like anwsers to. Why did Lanayru call me Hylia, the name of the patron Goddess of this land? And why did it call me the 'possesser of the Light Force'?"

Karane shook her head.

"I don't know Zelda," she said, devoid of anwsers for the first time since I'd met her (execpt when the library failed her of course). "I'm sure you can ask Lanayru when we visit her."

I bit into the last of the Stamina Fruit and consumed it in silence, thinking about the journey ahead of me. It was then I noticed sleep pulling at my eyes. I stretched and yawned, pulling my black cloak off of me, and taking my tiara from off the top of my head. I placed all of it on the floor at the foot of my bed. I unbuckled the belt that held the sash in place and put it with the tiara and black cloak.

"Well, I'm off to bed," I announced. "Please don't wake me up until I wake up."

"You've got the right idea Zella," Karane said, stifling a yawn of her own.

She pulled off her black cloak and imitated where I'd set mine down. I cast a look around the room and saw Link, curled up in a ball, fast asleep on another one of the white beds, while Midna was nowhere to be seen.

"Wait, where's Midna?" I asked Karane.

We'd completelly forgotten about Link and Midna.

"Here," said a voice next to me.

I jumped and started to shriek, until I saw Midna, loitering in my shadow.

"Midna, please, don't do that again."

"Sorry, I forgot that in here, for some reason, I don't have to stay within people's shadows," she said.

She floated to another one of the white beds and laid down upon it, closing her eyes. Instantly, her breathing deepened, which told us she was fast asleep.

"Looks like she's had a long day like us," I observed.

"Well, it's time for us get some sleep," Karane said. "We've got another long day tomorrow."

I laid down and tried to clear my mind of the many thoughts and questions tormenting it. It took some time before I finally drifted off into the world of sleep. Luckily I didn't dream of anything.

xxxxxx

A bright, white light flashed through my eyelids, jolting me awake.

"Whaaazzupppp!" I moaned, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Time to get up and start moving," said Rauru's voice.

My vision slowly cleared to reveal an aplogectic looking Karane, and an unhappy Rauru.

"Time to get going Princess," Rauru repeated.

There were still spots in front of my eyes from whatever he'd done to wake me up.

"I have clothing for you. These were left by your ancestors."

In the middle of the chamber, right after Rauru had stopped talking, light appeared, circling in two spots in the middle of the white chamber. Two wooden chests materialized slowly in the middle of the light.

"In there are two outfits that will help you along on your journey."

"I'll open them," Karane volunteered.

She walked over to the one closest to me and opened it. She pulled out a Shiekah outfit like the one Impa and Serene wore.

In one was a Shiekah outfit like the one Impa and Serene often wore, but in the other was an outfit the likes of which I'd never seen before. It was a purple (the upper portion) pink combination dress, the cloth decorated with ornate patterns. A sash, much larger than mine, was attached to the front of the dress, with the royal family emblem on it, held in place with a belt.

The blouse of the dress was purple, while the neckline was covered with a breastplate that was a golden bronze color and had eloberate designs . The sleeves themselves were a pinkish color. In addition, there was some armor worked into the dress as well. It came with ornately designed fauld armor, and two pauldrons covering the shoulders. Karane handed the outfit to me.

I turned it around and around, admiring the precision, the ornate work the creator had put into it. But Karane wasn't done. She went back to the chest and pulled out a pair of black/bronze boots, as well as a golden tiara like the one sititng at the foot of my bed, and finally a necklace. She placed everything on the bed I'd been sleeping on.

"Hmm, quite the nice outfit you have Zelda," she said, admiring the outfirt. "Compared to mine..."

I had to admit it was true, but I didn't say anything out of respect for her feelings.

"Put them on girls," Rauru said. "Me, Midna, and Link have some more things to discuss before leaving."

He waved his hand and the beds around the room vanished, replaced by dressing room stalls.

"Um..." I said, deciding to risk Rauru's wrath. "Are you sure we want to go dressed like this? I mean, we'll be easy to reconize."

"Not with those cloaks on," Rauru said.

"What? Cloaks..."

"Princess, they've been enchanted with Shiekah magic," he said. "And in this Twilight, they make you look like a pair of ghosts, just like everyone else. As long as you leave those on, they will protect and disguise you. Plus you'll need to visit the Zora and Gorons, both of whom have walled themselves off from the Hylians for the last hundred years or so. Only the appearance of you in that attire will they allow you in."

I'm still not entirely sastified with Rauru's anwser, as he, Wolf Link, and Midna left the chamber. But I didn't argue. I went inside the nearest stall (which was were my bed had been) and began putting on the outfit. It took sometime figuring how to put the thing on, due to the strings being all over the place, along with much of the armor (I never put on armor before). To my surprise, it fitted prefectly, and the armor was so light-weight, I could barely even feel it. I tied up my blonde hair in a bun for the time being (I didn't want to fight it in a cloak for the time being). When I'd finished I came out to see Karane, already finished waiting for me.

Karane was already dressed in her Shiekah outfit, the customary blue leggings, red and the red-eye Shiekah symbol shirt. She'd braided her hair and wrapped it around her head. Her eyes widened when she saw me. She walked around me a couple of times.

"Wow Zelda," she said, stunned. "You look...amazing."

"I'm not sure about that," I said, looking down at my outfit.

"Zella, quit selling yourself short."

Before I could retort Rauru came back into the room with Link and Midna.

"That looks good on you Zelda," Rauru said. "That outfit has been passed down from priest to priest for generations. I now see why."

Not quite sure what to make of Rauru's comment, I chanced a glance at Link and saw him staring at me. I was suddenly glad he was a wolf; at least I didn't have to deal with him swooning over me in human form. I folded up the outfit I which I had just changed out of, while Karane copied me.

"Leave those those on the beds," Rauru said. "They'll still be here when you will be in need of them again. And take this too."

He reached with his right hand into his red robes and pulled out a curious-looking blue instrument.

"It's call an Ocarina," he said. "It was rumored to have been used by the Hero of Time and is said to have magical powers. You may need it on your journey."

Me and Karane put our clothes on the beds, which had replaced the stalls which we had changed in. Karane strapped her Shiekah belt around her waist while I pulled the dark cloak over my new outfit, and strapped my bow and the quiver of arrows to my back. Karane pulled her cloak over her head, hiding her Shiekah outfit and weapons underneath. Last but not least, I took the Ocarina from Rauru and stored it in a pocket in my cloak.

"Link, Midna, lead them out and show them the way," Rauru said. "You must return here when you are finished."

"Yes Rauru," I said, just wanting to get away from him as soon as possible.

So, me, Karane, Link and Midna (riding on Link's back) left the Temple of Time, heading through the main chapel and out the front doors When we got outside, the world of the Twilight greeted us. White spots were milling around the square, easily disguistable against the black stripes radiating from the ground. Up directly ahead of us was Hyrule Castle, it's many connected turrets rising against the white sky. It was surrounded by an eerie golden glow. My heart ached; _I was barely the princess for a day, and I failed them. _It was hard to keep such thoughts from invading my mind from time to time.

Karane grabbed my arm, jolting me out of my thoughts. Together, Link and Midna lead us down a nearby alleyway.

"They truly have no idea," I said to Karane.

"Shh, quiet, we'll discuss it after we get out of the city," Karane whispered to me.

Link and Midna lead us through several deserted backstreets towards the south gate where me, Karane, and our parents usually came in when we wanted to visit the city. Despite the cloaks, me and Karane were still very nervous. I swear my heart was pounding was loudly that we would be discovered. Several times we had to stop and melt into the shadows of buildings and alleyways as Bokoblin and Twilli partols would pass us.

Usually this happened where the backstreets and the main highways of the city would interconnect. As we went, I got to observe Karane more closely. She was prefectly calm, which was surprising at least for me, with my nerves firing off, making me tremble at the thought of being discovered. She moved with precision, being so quiet, so controlled; her movements resembled those of Impa and Serene prefectly.

A sudden thought struck me with a question. I asked Karane when we were going down one of the desereted backstreets with no monsters in sight.

"Why did you leave the Sheikah?" I asked. "Refresh my memory if you've told me before."

Karane was taken by surprise; the look on her face said everything. She wasn't expecting me to ask that question. But it was quickly replaced by a look that I knew all too well; the one she always got when she's conocting a plan.

"I wasn't happy with the lifestyle they wanted me to live," she whispered to me. "Moving from place to place, giving up friends, family to protect a family that no one knew even existed anymore, take part in a rebellion..."

"What? Rebellion?" I repeated, confused.

"Zelda," she said. "I forgot to tell you this earlier but, they've been planning this for nearly a century. The overthrow of Matinus and putting your line back on the throne wasn't so plan they just came up with on the fly. Cloakman did all the work for them."

I was shocked; was I little more than a pawn in a bigger scheme? Karane seemed to read my thoughts.

"Zelda, the fate of Hyrule, us, depends on you and Link," she said. "Hurry, we must get of this city."

She grabbed my hand again and lead me through the streets, following Midna and Link until we reached the south gate that lead onto Hyrule Field. All of us froze when was saw what was there. Two massive Twilli creatures like the ones that had broken into the manor house were standing there at the south gate, on guard. Above us, on the walls, were patrolling Bokoblins armed with bows and arrows.

"How do we get past them?" I asked Karane.

She ignored me, her eyes darting around widly, looking for some way to get out of the city. Luckily Midna spoke up at this moment.

"They're really dumb," she said in a whisper, causing me to jump. "When the usurper, the one you call Cloakman, took my throne, he imprisoned me and set two of his Twilli henchmen to guard me. Thanks to my imp form and the stupidity of the guards, I was able to escape by distracting them."

At this moment, a candle lit up in Karane's brain.

"I know," she said. "It's risky but it might work."

"What?" I asked, eager for more details.

"See the others patrolling the streets," she said, pointing to them.

Sure enough, there were more of the Twilli monsters out in the main street that lead to the middle of Castle Town. They were just roaming back and forth aimlessly, probably bored from being on guard duty.

"Shoot a couple of them. It might attract enough attention and create confusion, in which we can get away."

"Try it," Midna added.

"Okay," I said, still a little hesistant. But what other alternatives were there anyways.

I unshackled my bow, and pulled out a few arrows from the quiver on my back. . I put one of them on the string and sent the missile on it's way. It embedded directly into the nearest Twilli guard's back, causing it to topple over. Like Karane predicted, his buddies immediately rushed to his aid. Not very smart when you are on guard duty if I must say so myself*. This included the two charatans supposed to be guarding the south gate, which mercifully had the bridge down.

"Zelda, we are going to run for it on three..two..one.."

She darted out from our hiding spot before I could question her furthur.

"Karane, wait," I moaned, racing after her, with Link and Midna behind me.

I'm sure we were quite the sight to see, two hooded black figures, and a wolf with a little imp riding, running out the gate and onto the bridge. As we were thumping over the wood of the bridge, our luck ran out. I heard the screeching of Bokoblins when they are agitated. An arrow sliced into the wooden bridge just behind my foot.

"Hurry, run for it," Karane yelled.

The four of us turned to the east and broke into an all out sprint. Arrows slieced into the ground at our feet, sometimes just ahead or behind us. My legs began to ache from exhuastion, but the threat of being killed spurred me onward. I chanced a glance backwards and saw the Bokoblins still running back and forth on top of the wall, shooting arrows at us. As we reached the first stand of trees, I saw them still shooting arrows, but we had ran out of range. Finally, Link and Midna spotted running (they had outdistanced us by quite a ways) allowing us to catch up. We paused, breathing heavily from running so far.

"So, now what?" I asked Karane and Midna.

Link growled, moaned, and howled in response.

"I'm sorry Link," I said. "I don't speak wolf."

"He was saying we should go get some supplies from Karkariko Village," Midna informed us. "As well as some bags to carry our supplies and weapons in as well."

"You sure about that?" I asked. "Bokoblins just saw us and tried to kill us."

"We should be fine," Karane said. "Remember what Rauru said, 'only Twilli monsters won't be able to see us.' He never said Bokoblins. We'll scout the settlement, which so happens to be on the other side of this stand of pine trees."

"Well," I said, asking a question that had been dogging me for sometime. "Where do we start looking for the Master Sword? I lived in the Faron Woods my entire life and never saw even so much a trace of a sword or a Lost Woods."

Nobody responded. It seemed that none of us had really given much thought to the matter.

"Why don't we go to Zora's Domain first," Karane suggested. "I know of a way we can get to it. We can ask Lanayru the Light Spirit. Remember, 'they have knowledge immeasurable', maybe it can tell us something abou it."

"Yes, but where is Lanayru's shrine?" I asked her.

"Zora's Domain," Karane said. "I know of a way in that I read about. This way."

She turned north, back towards Castle Town.

"We have to follow the river that flows under the drawbridge. That will lead us to the Zora."

"Have you ever been there before?" Midna asked.

"No, but I know the theory of how to get there."

"Are they known to be friendly?" I asked. _I sure hope they are._

We'd stopped running by this point in time. Karane looked back at me wearily.

"I'm not sure," she said. "Zora haven't been seen in a hundred years according to what the Shiekah told me years ago. I don't know."

We began to follow the river that flows under the bridge, keeping in the cover of the trees that lined it's banks. My nerves were still peaking occasionally as we tried to keep out of sight of any sentries on the roof. The river began to climb, disappearing into, turning into rapids the fathur we climbed. Before long, me and Karane were breathing heavily from the exertion. Link on the other hand, seemed unaffected by the climb. _He is a wolf after all. _

"All of Castle Town's water is drawn from this river," Karane informed me. "I read about it in one of the books at the ranch."

I didn't respond to her comment. Her knowledge was immesurable; she must have read every book in the library at the ranch.

"One more thing I'd been hoping to talk to you about," she said.

"What would that be?" I asked.

"When this is all over," Karane said, not looking at me. "What do you plan to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Before all this began to happen, I was having the happiest times of my life. I'd finally been given a sister, someone I could relate to. I've been an only child forever. My mom had two miscarriages after me."

"I'm sorry," I said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, but, I know you're the Princess, and you'll be living in the castle..."

"Look," I said. "I...to be honest I'm still not sure about how this will all turn out. It's all happened so fast, _too fast._ There is one thing I do know."

"What's that?" she asked.

"I'm your sister," I said. "And nothing will ever change that. No matter what happens."

"We're here," Karane announced.

The river rose to become a waterfall about fifty feet high. Many rocks bisected the stream at the bottom, splitting the river into dozens of smaller rivulets. Karane bounced from rock to rock leading us to a certain rock that had a faded image of the Triforce engraved into it's surface.

"So were is it?" I prodded, not seeing any lake or domain, just a wall of water in front of us.

"That's what I don't get," Karane said. "I read something in a book about a secret passageway into the Zora's Domain. It said, 'Sing the princess's lullaby and enter where the Triforce points the way'. One day I was exploring this area and found this small engraving. It you notice, it points directly into that waterfall."

"Are you sure about this?" Midna asked.

"Of course, Impa when she was training me, brought me here after I discovered this and explained how it worked," Karane said, excited. "You just need to play a tune on that Ocarina thingy Rauru gave you and it'll open."

"Yeah, but did Impa say which tune?"

Karane froze. By the expression upon her face, it's clear Impa hadn't told her what tune to play. But at that moment, unbidden and as though from a former life, a memory slipped into my mind.

_ Mom tucked me in bed, my uncle's bed to be exact. We had no home since we'd arrived with in Mordon late last night. We had little more than the outfits I had brought and the clothes on our backs. My mother's brother had taken us in and lended us this tiny, log-cabin room with one bed to sleep on. Both of us were thoroughly exhausted from the late-night journey we'd pulled the night before to get here. I was a little old for this, but still appreciated it all the same. We were together again, nothing else mattered. Sure I missed my siblings and my father, but the hurt and the betrayal, nullied much of the grief I would've felt over them not being here._

_"Mom, please sing me that lullaby you used to when I was young," I requested._

_"Mara," she said, a smile on her face. "You are too old for such things. You said so yourself."_

_"Not tonight," I responded. "Not after what we've been through."_

_ My Mom smiled and began to hum the lullaby she had always sung for me as a little girl. She named it 'Zelda's Lullaby' after my middle name..._

Unbidden, the tune she always hummed worked through it's full course in my head along with a little voice that I'd heard before; _play your lullaby._ I looked down at the Ocarina and back up at the waterfall. _Well, it's better than nothing._

"I have an idea," I said.

"What would that be?" Karane asked.

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain. I'm just going to try it."

I placed the Ocarina into my mouth, closed my eyes, and began to play, letting the music my mother used to play for me slip from my mind and into the Ocarina. To my surprised, it played it prefectly, despite the fact I'd never played as so much a real musical instrument in my life before. As the tune sprang forth from the blue flute, a hundred different memories danced across my mind.

Tears leaked occasionally from my eyes as I finished the tune, caused by the rash of sad memories. As I played, I heard a rushing sound, like that of water being pushed apart. When I'd finished I opened my eyes, and almost toppled backwards in shock into the river, only stopping when Karane grabbed my arm. Before us, a tunnel lead directly into the sides of the cliff, leading away to the left and into darkness.

"Good job Zelda," Karane said. "Ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said, putting the Ocarina back into my cloak.

"Wait," Midna said. "I need to teach Link something. You two just watch."

She floated off of Link's back and across the small bit of river that separated us from the tunnel.

"Link jump, my magic will teleport you to here," Midna said.

Link looked at both of us, though, what he wanted, I wasn't quite sure. With some trepidation, he paused, and then leapt into the air, towards the tunnel. It was as like he teleported. Me and Karane gasped in surprise watching this. _What else can she do? _

"Now you two come," Midna said, remounting Link's back (Link growled at her when she did this, but she ignored him).

Karane went first, doing a graceful cartwheel into the tunnel, landing on her feet. I couldn't stop a small amount of jealousy welling up inside of me. She was so graceful when she moved. Me on the other hand; not so much. Mom mostly taught me archery, and a few battle moves she invented herself, but nothing close to what Karane just did. So, I settled for the way most people do it. I backed up on the rock as far as I could without falling in, then ran and made a leap for it. I made it, barely, nearly falling onto my front and doing a faceplant in the process. Karane caught me as I landed, and helped me regain my balance.

The waterfall closed as I landed, plunging us into total darkness.

"That was unexpected," Karane said, stating the obvious.

We began to make our way foreward, using the walls of the tunnel as our guide (mine and Karane's of course). It descended, twisted and turned in multiple directions until I lost track of where it was turning. It was also wet, dank, and smelled like fish.

"Wow, who'd knew this has ever been here?" Midna said amazed. "Anyways, that old priest said that Queen Ruto is the ruler of the Zora before we left."

"Obviosly we must meet with her first..." I said, reasoning that this Queen might know where Lanayru was.

"You will not being meeting with her at all," said two dangerious voices from in front of us.

A massive beam of light penetrated the darkness, blinding all four of us. When my eyes had finally adjusted, the strangest looking beings I'd ever seen stood before us. Their bodies were a flourescent blue color, with fins attached to their arms and waists, along with webbed feet. Their heads were a odd shape and they had blue eyes. The ones in front of us carried ugly-looking spears. They advanced on us, causing us to back up.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" the taller of the two said in a masculine-like voice.

"Zelda, now" Karane whispered to me.

"What do you mean by 'now'?"

"Reveal yourself Zelda. Remember what Rauru said."

"Zelda?" the two fish-like persons repeated.

Very carefully I removed my hood so they could see my face and the tiara on top. Their eyes widened even furthur when I pulled my black hood off entirely, and let it fall to the ground, exposing the rest of my royal attire. I swear they just about toppled over. They immediately withdrew their spears.

"Sorry Princess Zelda, welcome to the domain of the Zora," the shorter one said. "And who are your guests?"

Karane pulled off her black cloak to reveal her Shiekah outfit.

"That's Karane, my Shiekah Guardian, and this odd couple is Midna and Link the Hero turned into a wolf. I have no idea how it happened."

"Well, hero or not, they aren't allowed in Zora's Domain," one of the two guards said.

I was about to argue when Karane hit me on the shoulder, causing me to shut up.

"Coperate Zelda," she whispered. "Let us not forget our objective. Ask to see Queen Ruto."

I turned to Link and Midna.

"Link, Midna, why don't you wait here in the tunnel or outside Zora's Domain, we shouldn't be long."

Without a word of complaint, Wolf Link and Midna turned around and vanished back into the tunnel.

"May we see Queen Ruto, it's urgent we speak with her," I asked the two guards.

"Certainly," the taller of the two of them said. "Follow me."

The Zora guard lead us the rest of the way through the dark passageway that opened up to a huge lake. My mouth fell open with awe as I beheld the spetacle before us. The lake was sparkling a crystal-blue hue in the sun, while massive walls rose hundreds of feet around it. The Twilight streaks were erupting from the ground, but the Zora seemed rather unaffected by them*. Zora were everywhere, jumping in and out of the water, catching fish or just swimming around for fun. Families with small children were on the edge of the massive lake, having picnics or enjoying the sun.

Me and Karane took it all in, muttering an occasional 'wow' or 'amazing' at the sights before us.

"Amazing isn't it," our escort boasted. "You're the first Hylians to see this in nearly a hundred years."

"Why would that be?" I inquired, curious.

"When your ancestors were cast off the throne Princess, King Ralis, our monarch at the time, sealed off the Zora's Domain, leaving that route you took in as the only other way open from the outside."

"Oh, sorry about that," I muttered.

Our guards waved it off.

"Don't worry about it."

By now, the apperance of two humans inside the domain had attracted a lot of attention. We turned quite a few heads as we walked by and we soon had a multitude of children mobbing us, examining (but not touching) the sash at the base of my dress with the Royal emblems on it or the dress itself, Karane's Shiekah outfit, our hair, talking exubrantly amongst themeslves, switching between Hylian and another langugage which I couldn't understand.

Our escort did nothing to stop the mob, so we just had to sit and endure it. He lead us to a small cavern, carved into the rock, that had a waterfall running down in front, reflecting the sun's rays in a beautiful rainbow pattern. The guard waved his hand and it parted just like the one where we'd first come into the domain..

Waving us in wordlessly, we cautiously walked into what appeared to be the Zora throne room. It was little more than a cave, with a small stream flowing through it. The streambed was ornately decorated with many strange, but gorgeous patterns, while above where it entered the cavern, was a unique symbol suspended above it. Sitting on this was a magificant female Zora.

Her blue eyes immediately lit up when they saw us. Unlike the other female Zora, which were a bluish/greyish color, she had pink mixed in with the traditional blue, and wore a red cape that hung off her shoulders. A blue crown was on her head, with a few red rubies adorning it, indicating her title. She immediately stood up when she saw us.

"Princess Zelda," she said, smiling. "We meet at last. I never thought I'd see your prophesied coming in my day. I'm Queen Ruto, ruler of the Zora."

I wasn't quite sure how to react or what the proper court manners were, especially with her announcement that my arrival had been prophesied of.

"Glad to meet you Queen Ruto," I said, hoping that'd be sufficient. "This is my Shiekah guardian, Karane. Wait...prophesied?

Queen Ruto smiled.

"The prophesy was uttered many hundreds of years ago when the Hero of Time lived. The Sage of Water was my ancestor, Princess Ruto I. On her deathbed, she prophesied that one day the Royal Family would be overthrown and darkness invade the land again, the one who has the blood of the Goddess flowing through her viens would return to Zora's Domain to begin her quest to take back her kingdom for good."

Niether one of us was sure what to make of my prophesied arrival, execpt more questions. _What does she mean by the blood of the Goddess flowing through my viens?_ "May I show you around Zora's Domain?" Queen Ruto queried, interrupting my thoughts.

"I...uhhhh...why not?" I said, reasoning it would help on on our quest. "May I ask something first though?"

"Anything."

"Well, there are two things which we are principally here. First is that we need to find the Water Sage and second, we have reason to suspect that Lanayru is in trouble."

"I can't help with the Water Sage," Ruto said. "After Princess Ruto died, and the Water Sage was slain in the Era of Twilight, that power has not been seen among our people since then. Lanayru, though is another matter entirely. After your family was overthrown, King Ralis III, after a bloody battle, siezed the shrine of Lanayru and incorporated it into the Zora Domain. I can take you there, if you want."

"Well, that'd be great," I said. "Let's go there first please."

"Okay, it's right this way."

She motioned back the way we came walking in front of us. Queen Ruto lead us out of the Zora throne room back to where all the Zora families had been playing before in the lake outside. Several guards arrmed spears joined us as we left the throne room. We found that a large, chattering crowd of about a hundred Zora had congregated at the opening into the throne room. Ruto's entourage of guards tried to clear a path for us, but had no success. Finally, Ruto raised one of her fin-like arms and the crowd fell silent.

"The rumors are true. Princess Zelda has returned to our domain. The era of tyranny is now over."

The crowd let out a rancorous round of applause that subsided when Ruto spoke again.

"Now disperse, go back to your activities my people, she and I have things to discuss."

Obediently, the crowd dispersed, with parents grabbing their children and scattering to whatever they'd been doing before we'd come in.

"This way," Queen Ruto said, heading up a path that lead up the sides of the stones walls that surrounded the lake. "It's a bit of a hike, but shouldn't be a problem for you two."

We'd been going for awhile, climbing higher and higher above the lake when Queen Ruto asked a question that I'm sure had been burning in her since she'd laid eyes on us.

"So how'd did you do it?"

"Do what?" I repeated, clueless.

"Take back the throne."

"Oh that, well you see..."

For the next twenty or so minutes, I relayed the tale of how I came to be on the throne, a condensed version. How we were lured to the castle, the murder of Maintus II, and me being driven from the throne about twenty four hours ago.

"Well that's a gripping story," Ruto commented. "Sorry about you just being thrust out there like that. It's not easy ruling a kingdom."

"Agreed," me and Karane said together.

"We're here," Ruto announced.

We had now climbed up the entire length of the large cliffs that enclose Zora's Domain, where the waterfall that flows into the massive chasm flowed off the top of the cliffs and into the lake below. Queen Ruto waved her right hand and the falls parted to reveal a small chamber, hewn into the rock behind the falls. It was like the tunnel we'd just come into, exepct there was a large spring inside, with little orbs of light (fairies?) floating in the air above the water.

That when my eyes landed on something that shocked all of us, Queen Ruto the most.

**Other Explanations**

**Zelda's outfit**

**The new outfit Zelda is wearing is similar to the one she wears in Hyrule Warriors.**

**Karane**

**The reason why she isn't turned to a spirit like everyone else I'm keeping under wraps for now, so you'll have to wait to find out later.**

**Lanayru**

**So, inbetween Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, Zora's Domain somehow moved. In this story, it has been enlarged to incorporate the shrine of Lanayru as well.**

**Other note**

**I've been working on another idea for another Fan Fiction, one taking place in Skyward Sword times. If some of you could read it and leave some feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's called Hylia's Mission. If you feel like it, please read and review. If you have more to add, PM me. **

-_Frozen 789_


	12. Chapter 11-Lanayru

I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Sorry for the lateness and how short this chapter is compared to the rest of the story. My time has been consumed by school and work lately. Please leave a review as you go, they make the story better. Enjoy!

Chapter 11-Lanayru

On the ground, in the middle of the spring, was a sight that would make any heart shatter. A majestic light serpent, just like the one that had appeared in the Temple of Time, was lying on the ground, on it's left side. It was clearly injured gravely, or possbly even dead. Standing over it was a dark creature the likes of which I'd never seen before, and judging by the looks on Karane, Ruto, and her warrior's faces, neither had they seen anything like it either. It looked like a cross between a spider that has eaten fifty Stamina Fruits and plants with giant teeth. It had a spider-like black body with six legs, and three 'flower' heads projecting from it's body on small thin 'vines'. The biggest one was attached to it's rear end and resembled the tail of a scorpion, which I'd only seen in a book. This 'flower' had what looked like to be an eye extending from it.

Lanayru's big golden eyes opened weakly and took us in.

"Please...slay monster...stolen my power...hurry Hylia..." Lanayru said weakly, before it's eyes closed again.

The monster turned it's flowers towards us. As soon as the one with the eyeball extending from it sighted us, it charged at us on it's six ugly legs.

"Warriors," Ruto barked. "Loose!"

Queen Ruto's entourage threw their spears at the monster, but they simply bounced off it's enormous black body, clattering to the ground and doing no visible damage. With no other option, all of us turned tail and ran as fast as we could down the path.

"What...is...that...thing?" I asked no one in particular.

"I..don't know," Karane yelled back. "RUN!"

The monster emerged from the cave that housed the shrine of Lanayru and began to chase us down the trial that lead down to the bottom of Zora's Domain.

"Guards," Ruto snapped. "Jump into the lake and get everyone out of the area execpt for our soldiers. Send the civilians to the caverns. You two, stay."

Ruto motioned to the two right behind her. The rest of Ruto's entourage leapt off the cliff and into the lake below without a word of protest. We continued to lead it down the trail, with the beast slowly gaining on us.

"We..need..to...do...someting..." Karane panted.

"Lure it to the grassy field by the lake," Ruto said.

"Queen," one of Ruto's two guards interupted. "You..need to...get...to safety."

"No," Ruto responded, hardly winded at all. "When my people are in danger, they need to see their Queen in the front, not cowering behind guards."

"But..." one of them said.

"NO BUTS!" Ruto spat, silencing both of them.

My opinion of Ruto increased threefold after this little exchange. Karane looked back as we continued running.

"It's gaining..LOOK OUT! DUCK!"

All of us did as she instructed. A black ball of energy whizzed over our heads, hitting the stone wall behind us. The stone cracked into millions of pieces and spread to the ground underneath our feet! The trail had lead us right over the lake at this point. Ruto and her guards jumped off, forgetting about us (how could she?!).

"We're going to fall and swim...or not," Karane said, when something clicked in her head. "Zelda, use Farore's Wind."

"What?" I said atonished.

_What is she thinking? _Our last training session had been weeks ago, and I'd hadn't come close at all to mastering that move.

"Use Farore's Wind," she said more urgently, as the ground continue to crumble beneath our feet.

"No, I can't," I protested.

The rocks broke from under us, sending the two plunging down towards the lake.

"PRINCESS ZELDA DO IITTTT!" Karane screamed at me.

"Okay, here goes..."

I closed my eyes and let my magic escape. My eyes opened in surprise as green swirls of light erupted from my hands and enveloped the two of us. Wind began to circle around us in unison with the green light.

"Cool Zella," Karane cooed in amazement.

Without thinking about it, I waved my right hand towards where the Zora throne room is and the wind took us in that direction. Strangely though, Karane vanished out of the green ball of light. It dissipated immediately afterwards, leaving me standing safely on a the ground in front of the Zora throne room. SPLASH. I turned around just to see the tail end of the water falling back into the lake. A few seconds later, Karane climbed out of the lake, soaked to the bone, shivering, and sputtering water all over the place. I felt a mixture of amusement and pity for her.

"Sorry Karane," I said apologitcally.

"That was AWESOME..." Karane said.

Something heavy landed on the ground behind Karane cut her words short. The monster had somehow followed the two of us. It had already generated another ball of energy, that was in it's main 'mouth'. It sent the projectile straight at me. With no time to run or dodge, I used Nayru's Love. I spun on my heel, and blue shards of magic erupted from my stomach and enveloped me. The ball of energy slammed into the shards, and floated there for a moment. But instead of being deflected back immediately, it continued to press against my shield.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and trickled down into my blonde hair, now flowing freely down my back. My eyebrows furrowed in determination, _I'm not losing this fight. _I let loose more magic into the blue shards, until the black ball was sent hurling back at it's sender. It slammed into the plant monster, laying the thing out onto it's back.

"Princess Zelda, Karane," came Ruto's voice from behind us. "Quick, get into the throne room."

Me and Karane sprinted the few yards separating us from the Zora throne room. As soon as we had gotten inside, Ruto waved her hand and a solid wall of ice sealed the room off.

"Good job Princess," Ruto said. "You have powerful magical abilities."

"How'd you do that?" Karane interjected before I could respond.

"Inherited, I was born with them," the Zora queen said. "I'm not sure, but I believe they were passed down to me by my ancestor and the last known Water Sage, Princess Ruto."

"Are you the Water Sage?" I asked.

"No. Not that I'm aware of."

A massive banging noise from behind us attracted everyone's attention. The plant monster had recovered from being hit by it's own attack and was slamming into the ice barrier Ruto had created. Cracks were appearing in the ice, making it clear the barrier wouldn't hold long.

"What do we do?" Karane asked no one in particular. "It won't last long."

"Fight it," said a voice that made us all jump.

Link and Midna landed on the ground in front of us. Queen Ruto immediately let out a scream.

"What..what is that?" she asked.

Her warriors gathered around her, spears pointed at Wolf Link. She had around eleven gathered around her, each one armed with nasty-looking spear.

"It's okay," I said. "It's Link. I'll explain later. Just trust me. But how..."

"Enough Princess," Midna said. "I know how to defeat it. It's weakness is it's eye. But only a Twilight creature can do it; like Link here. The two of us climb up to the top of the cave then attack when the time is right."  
"Then what about us?" Ruto, me, and Karane asked together.

"Distract it," Midna said. "And we'll do the rest."

"Okay," Karane said. "Ruto, why don't you post your warriors around the room. Zelda, take up position over here next to me. The more there are of us, the more we can distract it."

"I was thinking along the same lines," Ruto said.

Queen Ruto gestured with one of her hands, and her eleven warriors (more like brave volunteers) took up positions around the throne room. Two of them guarded Queen Ruto, who was standing to the left of the entrance to the throne room, refusing to move away from her. Karane stayed next to me (I was on the opposite side of the throne room from where Ruto was) refusing to move from my side.

"Karane, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm your Shiekah guardian," she replied. "Impa gave me the job, and I'm going to do it. No arguing!"

I'd already opened my mouth to argue (surely I was more than capable of taking care of myself). But the look Karane gave me made me shut up. We waited for the monster to break the ice barrier Ruto had put up. I put a bow on the string while Ruto's warriors armed themselves with a mixture of fishing-like spear, from the room behind the throne. Not long after, the monster broke through the ice barrier, scattering ice around the throne room.

"Loose," Queen Ruto yelled again.

A volley of spears and a single arrow was lauched at the monster. But as before, they simple bounced off or were swatted aside by the three massive flowers on it's head. Then, the monster made it's move. It turned and went for the Zora throne, for reasons known only to itself. Dropping to the ground, I grew a fireball into my hands and guided it right into the back of the creature, where it exploded. The monster roared in pain, and turned around searching for the source of the discomfort. It fixed me and Karane with it's ugly eye and charged at us, all flowers flailing.

"MOVE!" Karane yelled.

Me and Karane jumped out of the way as the monster roared past. Ruto's warriors lauched another round of spears at it, which only served to make it even angrier. Growing large balls of energy on it's flowers, it sent them at the offenders. Several of them were unable to escape the resultant explosions and were thrown agianst the walls, and slid to the ground, out cold. Our numbers had been cut in half in less than ten seconds. Meanwhile, I glanced up to see Wolf Link and Midna on the top of the highest point of the throne room, on an outrcrop of rock near the ceiling, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"We need to stop it in it's tracks," I said, as we avoided the three-flowered monster again.

"Have any ideas?" Ruto asked, doing a graceful front flip to avoid one of the plant monster's energy balls, and landing next to me.

"I've got one," Karane volunteered.

"DO IT!" me and Ruto shouted together.

"Well, fireball it, and Ruto, ice it together, now!"

With few other ideas, or options available to us, me and Ruto grew a ball of fire (me) and ice (Ruto) and hurled them at the monster. They both exploded on it's back, causing it to wheel around to face the three of us. It fixed the two Hylians and the Zora queen with it's single ugly eye. With massive thumps it began to charge towards us as an amazing speed.

"Now what?" I asked.

"RUN!" Karane yelled.

"What?" Queen Ruto said stunned.

But with with other option, the three of us turned and ran, towards the throne, with the plant monster in hot pursuit. Suddenly I heard a growl behind us and glanced back in time to see Wolf Link leap down from his perch above the fray and saw his jaws latched onto the flower with the eye, biting it clean off. Screeching and howling in pain,, the monster toppled over backwards onto the ground and lie still, before vanishing into a cloud of purple smoke.

"Thank goodness it's over," I said, feeling weak-kneed, leaning against the wall of the throne room for support. I was thoroughly exhausted.

"Well, it's dead now," Queen Ruto said.

At that moment, hundreds of Zora warriors flooded the throne room, each armed to the teeth with multiple weapons of every description. I was glad to see them, but to my surprise, Queen Ruto's face was full of fury.

"Where were you?" she shouted at them.

"Sorry Queen," said one of them, who appeared to be some kind of officer. "We were held up by some odd barrier we couldn't overcome. We came as fast as we could, and we're happy to report that all the citizens have are safe."

Ruto's expression softened at their explanation.

"Oh," she said, looking around the throne room.

It was a mess; chunks of rocks littered the once spotless ground. Around half of her warriors who'd been in the chamber with us were still laying around on the ground. I prayed that they weren't dead.

"Get them help immediately, and start cleaning this mess up," the Zora queen barked.

"Yes Your Majesty," they all said, dispersing to do the tasks that she had given them.

"Now this," Queen Ruto said.

Floating in the air where the monster had been where two objects; a white ball of light much bigger and brighter than the ones that represented the people who'd been turned into spirits by Twilight, and a blue circular object with unique patterns engraved onto it's surface. I moved foreward to touch one of them, before Karane grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Don't touch them, we don't know what they are," she said.

"Well, someone has too," I responded, a little irritated.

"But not you, you're too precious Zelda."

"She's right Princess," Midna chimed in from behind me, still sitting on Link's back.

Before I could express my irritation with them, Ruto had already moved foreward. She touched the blue object first and pulled it out of the air and examine it closely in her webbed hands. After turning it over a couple of times, a shocked expression flitted across her face.

"Why, I don't believe it," she muttered in awe.

"What?" me and Karane said together.

"It's the Water Medallion which hasn't been seen since the Hero of Time was alive," Queen Ruto said, turning it over again. "It belongs to the Water Sage."

As if in reponse to her words, the ball of light lit up still floating next to her suddenly increased in brightness, attracting everyone's attention. It zoomed out of the throne room, eliciting 'owes' and 'awes' from the crowd of onlookers below.

"Come on," Karane said to me and Ruto. "We need to check on Lanayru. And see where that ball of light is going."

**Author's Notes**

**The monster in this chapter is based off the Twilight Parasite Diababa from the Forest Temple. **

**Water Sage**

**I'm going to say this right now, Queen Ruto is not the Water Sage. Like Princess Zelda, who has inherited abilities from generation to generation from her predecessors, it's possible some of Princess Ruto's descendants might have some of her powers she picked up when she was awakened as the Water Sage. As far as I know (and I've read a lot of Legend of Zelda official literature and LOZ online wikis) there has been no official word on what specific powers Ruto gained except to bestow her powers on Link and to help seal away Ganondorf. **

**And another thing, I'm looking for a Beta Reader to help me on the story I've been working on that takes place in the Skyward Sword era (Hylia's Mission). Please PM me if you are interested, or if you know of one who could help. **


	13. Chapter 12-Lanayru's Tale

**Sorry my readers for my long absence. School and work take up a lot of time, as many of you know. This chapter assumes a basic knowledge of the Legend of Zelda timeline, but I've tried to make it so that anyone can understand it. Read on and enjoy!**

**5/21/2015 Chapter edit.**

Chapter 12-Lanayru's Tale

It didn't take us long to get back up to Lanayru's shrine to check on the ailing Light Spirit. Luckily the chunk of path that had been blown off by the whatever-you want-to-call-it-monster hadn't left a gap too big for us to leap across. When Ruto opened the waterfall concealing the entrance, Lanayru was up, flying about the chamber, and stretching out it's body.

"Thanks everyone for saving me," Lanayru said. "Especailly thanks to Hylia for heeding my call."

At that moment, a question that had been burning inside of me came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"Why do you call me Hylia?"

Lanayru froze in mid-flight.

"You don't know?"

"No,".

"Zelda, please show some respect," Karane said.

I threw a stern look at her; I was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"Zelda, let me tell you about your ancestors. You are aware that the first Zelda, Queen Zelda I descended from the sky to what is now Hyrule, and all the history about that."

"Yeah," I said.

"This portion of the tale has largely been lost from history, she was actually the incarnated form of the White Goddess, Hylia, who the land is named after, as is Lake Hylia."

I gasped in surprise; could I really have the powers of a Goddess, or even some of her powers.

"As a direct descendent of her, the blood of the Goddess runs in your veins, and some of her powers, which reappear in the feminine line of the Hyrulean Royal Family."

Nobody said anything in response to this announcement, execpt that Karane began to bounce up and down on her feet, excited. I was in shock; _I have the powers of a Goddess flowing within my veins...what does that mean? And what powers exactly do I have?_

"I knew, I knew it was true," Karane said, sqeauling with excitement.

"Knew what was true?" me and Queen Ruto said together.

"I knew Zelda had the blood of the Goddess flowing within her."

All eyes in the room locked onto the brown-haired girl. Pink quickly creeped into Karane's face.

"I read it in a book," she explained.

"You need to know what has been forgotten and erased from human memory," Lanayru said. "First, we'll start from the beginning. As you probably know, Nayru, Din, and Farore created the land, each adding her unique gift to what is now Hyrule. When they returned to the heavens, they left the Triforce, the power of the Gods, in the charge of Hylia. But then, the earth cracked open and demons rushed force, craving the Ultimate Power."

I nodded, understanding; my mother had taught me these tales from my childhood. But this tale included details that had been missing.

"Hylia wasn't strong enough to defeat the Demon King," Lanayru continued. "So she sealed him away, and sacrificed her immortal self, incarnating as a mortal so that she could use the Ultimate Power. When she was finally reborn, the Spirit of her personal Hero was born alongside her. Down through the centuries, a cycle has commenced. Whenever evil has reared it's ugly head, those with the Spirit of the Hero, and the one who has Blood of the Goddess flowing within her veins have risen and vanquished it."

"What do you mean by 'cycle'?" Ruto said, confused.

"Around two hundred years ago," Lanayru said, ignoring Ruto's question. "The events of the Hero of Time took place. But it wasn't the end; after the Sages sent Ganondorf, the Demon King to the Twilight Realm, he usurped the Twilli Throne, causing the Twilight Darkness to spread across Hyrule. Through the efforts of the era's Princess Zelda and Link, Ganondorf was finally defeated and the Twilight Realm returned to normal."

Lanayru paused for a brief moment.

"What do you know of the events that lead to your family being evicted from the throne?"

"Well..." I said, looking at Karane for help.

"We only know that King Matinus slew Zelda's ancestors in cold blood, and a lot of people died, but that's about it," Karane filled in.

"Right Shiekah," Lanayru said. "It's much more complicated than that. Within the Royal Line, there have been both good and bad. Around a hundred years ago an evil king arose and oppressed the land. He lost the favor of the Gods, and Hyrule descended into turmoil. He sought the Triforce to put the land back under his control, but he wasn't able to obtain it. In the end, the people rebelled and Matinus emerged as leader of the rebellion."

"Well..I.." I said, uncertain of how to react to react to this new information. _Where my ancestors really that bad? _Karane seemed to read my mind.

"Zelda, what is in the past is in the past," Karane said.

"Princess, many of my ancestors were bad as well," Queen Ruto chimed in. "But I don't let that define who I am. I try to be the best I can no matter what dastardly things my predecessors have done."

That made me feel a lot better, especailly coming from Queen Ruto.

"He raised an army and defeated the King's few followers, slaying all of them mercilessly. He then crowned himself King, and slew any potential opponets. However, the youngest prince and his new bride escaped destruction and fled to the Faron Woods, which were untouched by the civil war."

"And they settled in Mordon," I added.

"Correct Princess. After the events that leads Zelda and the first hero, Link to this land, the Goddesses decreed that the line of Hylia (also known as the Nohansen line) would be the Royal Family of Hyrule; Matinus broke that decree. The Goddesses withdrew their favor from Hyrule, but not without charging the Shiekah with bringing the blood of the Goddess back onto the throne."

"For a hundred years the Shiekah have been in hiding, manipulating events to their favor, waiting for the opportunity, and they succeeded. Sadly though, the masked man in black is after the Triforce and has harnessed the Twilight Realm's power. But he only obtained the Triforce of Power, and the two split off to find their hosts."

Silence followed Lanayru's tale for a few moments as we processed what we'd just been told. Link growled at me, nudging my foot with his snout.

"He wants you to ask Lanayru where the Master Sword is?," Midna translated.

"Oh," I said. "Lanayru, do you know where the Master Sword is. We'll need it to transform the Hero back into a human form and cleanse Hyrule from the darkness that currently holds it captive."

"Darkness?" Ruto repeated, confused.

"I'll explain later," I told her.

"Yes I do. Only the Hero can wield it as it has been his destiny. It's deep in the Lost Woods, hidden in the spring of Eldin, my brother Light Spirit. I sense that his power has too been stolen like it was in the time of the Hero of Twilight. I must rest and regain my power children, take care. And, use the Water Medallion to find the Water Sage."

With that, Lanayru slowly faded from our view, the giant light serprent disappearing into the spring.

"What does that mean?" Ruto queried.

"I'll have to explain from the beginning, some of this I've already told you..."  
We walked out of the small cavern, and the waterfall closed behind us. As we descended down the path to the bottom of Zora's Domain, I gave her an abbreviated account of what had happened to us, starting from when the cloaked guy seized my throne and killed King Matinus, the advent of the Twilight to where we were now. Ruto listened .

"I'll take care of the Water Sage," Ruto said. "I'll find whoever it is among my people and keep them hidden from the new tyrant. Good luck Princess Zelda, and Karane, and uuhhh, Link. You can go out the way you came in."

"Thanks for your hospality," I said, hoping that it would sound regal enough. Our group turned and headed into the passageway that lead the way out from where we'd come in. As we took our leave, Karane said to me,

"So, Eldin is next?"

"I guess," I said. What other leads did we have?

"For Link and I yes," Midna said from in front of us as we heard the rushing sound of water indicating we were approaching the waterfall that concealed the passageway. "For you two, I don't know."

I shrugged my shoulders and gave Karane a questioning look as the waterfall opened in front of us and we stepped out onto the rocks in the middle of the river.

"Eldin's Spring is in the Faron Woods," I said. "Eastward, past Karkariko Village. So, for now, let's go there."

"But, Zelda," Karane said. "Surely they'll be looking for both of you."

"I never said we have to go into the village," I said. "We just need to go towards it."

"Actually," said a voice from behind us.

All of us jumped and turned around. It was Impa, standing behind us. Me and Karane gave her hugs; she was alright. Seeing her gave all of us a major boost of confidence.

"While Link gets the Master Sword," Impa said. "I need to spend some time with the Princess and her Shiekah Guardian."

"Okay," Midna said.

Before any of us could say anything, she and Link ran off eastwards, towards the woods.

"Come," Impa said.

"We're are you taking us?" I asked.

"You'll see," she said.

With little other choice we followed Impa down the river valley in the opposite direction, back from whence we had come. Deep inside thought, I had a feeling that Impa had more in store for us than just hiding and waiting for Link to return.


	14. Part II-The Sages

**End of Part I: Awakening **

**Part II; The Sages**

The journey to save Hyrule continues in Part II: The Sages.

Some previews of what's to come in Part II

**Zelda grapples with self-doubt and her powers; **

"Are you sure I can do it?" I asked Impa. "The last time I tried that, it nearly killed me."

"Try it one more time," she urged.

Taking a deep breath, I my powers seep from my core. Fire erupted from my feet and expanded outward, forming a circle around me, and rising high into the air. It paused for a minute, then what I had feared happened; the fire collapsed inward, back towards me. I screamed as the out of control flames spun in towards their creator...

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"How can I do this?" I pleaded, lying on my bed, tears streaming down my face into my blonde hair. "Why'd you choose me?"

"Why? You know the anwser to that my Chosen," said the voice of Nayru. "It's been your destiny since your birth. It's the path that had been put before you by the Goddesses."

The tears continued to come despite Nayru's anwser. _How could I do what was being asked of me? What she was asking was far more than I could ever imagine doing..._

**Ghosts from Karane's past come back to haunt her;**

"No," Karane said. "Impa, forget it."

"Karane," Impa said.

"Don't Karane me. You tried once before, I'm only here because of Zelda. I'm not joining the Shiekah."

Impa sighed in frustration.

"Maybe this piece of news will change your mind..."

**Link and Zelda clash in a battle of light and darkness;**

Link's helix-shaped blade and the Master Sword collided, groaning against each other, a each blade sought to override the other. We stalemated, each of us pushing our blade against the other, in a battle of wills.

"Curse you Hylia," Link said, in a voice that sent shivers down my spine. "Must you always get in my way?"

"Always," I said. "Release Link, and I might let you go."

"Never," the mask spoke.

Link broke free of our stalemate and conjured a massive ball of dark energy above his head. I dropped the Master Sword, and the Bow of Light materialized into my hands, with an arrow at the string. I released the drawstring, as Link hurled the dark energy ball at me. They collided between us...

**Malon has to rescue her family from the clutches of a madman;**

"Mom, Dad," Malon called, as we raced through the house.

"It's too late," said a voice from behind us.

We both turned to see Serene standing behind us.

"Sorry Malon, but they've been kidnapped..."

**Avalon finds that she had a great role to play in the quest that she does not want;**

"You need me to come with you?" Avalon said, skeptical.

"Yes Avalon," I said.

"Why?" she demanded.

Her eyes bulged as I told her what the Light Spirit had just revealed to me moments earlier. Her reaction was exactly what I had feared.

"What?"

**The cloaked man gets ready to unleash an evil that has been chained for thousands of years;**

"Are preparations complete?" the cloaked man asked the Gerudo.

"Yes," the Gerudo said.

"Start the process."

The Gerudo bowed and then swept from the room. The dark usurper walked the throne room of Hyrule Castle. He tried to purge the fear from his chest; what he was doing could spell doom not only for him, but all of Hyrule. But they'd gotten too far, and he couldn't stop them. He strode from the room to watch the resurrection take place


	15. Chapter 13-Fallen Warrior

**So, I've decided to slightly tweak the plotline of Legend of the Lost Princess. New ideas have come to me that will greatly expand and hopefully make this story better. Please let me know what you think. Leave a review, fav, or follow.**

**I also want to explore the feelings Link and Zelda might have about the missions they are given to perform. We really don't see how they feel about the missions they are given to perform in the video game. I've tried to do it a little bit in this chapter. **

Chapter 13-Fallen Warrior

"Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above it's strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible." -Thomas A. Kempis

It seemed like I had been asleep only for a few minutes when Impa came roaring into our newly-acquired rooms. She threw open the curtains, and rays of sunlight fell upon. She yelled;

"Up and out of bed ladies, we've got a kingdom to save, and it won't happen when the Princess and her Shiekah Guardian are sleeping."

I moaned, covered my head with my blanket and rolled over. I was determined to get my beauty sleep.

"Can't it wait?" I asked. My body did not want to move an inch.

"No," she responded from somewhere over me. "The more we wait, the more time the Demon King will have to ruin Hyrule."

I moaned again; yesterday, after the departure of Link and Midna, Impa had lead us to Shiekah headquarters, a small derelict-looking building on the shores of Lake Hylia, to wait until Link could get the Master Sword..

"Get up," Impa said, frustration mounting in her voice.

"No."

Impa yanked the covers from off my bed, causing me to roll off of it.

CRASH.

I landed on the floor, hard on my right side, at Impa's feet. Pain radiated through my strained body, still sore after yesterday's scuffle at Zora's Domain.

"Ouch," I moaned, massaging my now sore back. "Impa..."

"Don't Impa me Princess," she said. "You might be the Princess of Hyrule, but right now you don't have a throne and won't if we don't act."

I watched her go over to Karane's bed with some resentment boiling in my chest. She didn't know my true feelings about the throne; I don't want it. My heritage hasn't been a blessing; it's little more than a curse. My life had been shattered not once but twice. The first was when my biological family was slain, and the second was when I found out that about, and the new life I'd worked so hard to build, was destroyed. It was something I couldn't escape from, as long as my friends and family were in mortal danger. I glanced down at the Triforce symbol embedded on the back my right hand, the outline of the Triangles shining brightly in the low light. _Why did you choose me?_

"Impa," Karane moaned, as Impa did the same thing to her as she did to me. "Do we really have to go through that again?"

"Yes," Impa said. "We've got training and breakfast in twenty minutes. Chop, chop."

She left our shared room, which had no more furnishings than our two cots, and two wardrobes where Karane and I had stored what clothing we had, supplemented by that which the Shiekah had provided us, and what they managed to steal from Hyrule Castle and the ranch before Hyrule feel. I chose a simple blue dress for the day, while Karane settled for a lavender green pattern. Breakfast turned out to be little more than a bowl of portridge, like what the Lon Lons used to serve us what seemed like eons ago, before this quagmire began.

After we had finished, Impa lead us down a flight of stairs to a large room, basically a gymnasuim. Inside were about a hundred different Shiekah, under the watchful eyes of their instructors, running drills that included running around a pole, rock climbing, teleporting, hand-to-hand combat, weapons instruction, and agility.

"While you live here, you are going to be trained by our best instructors," she announced. "Princess, I'll mostly be training you myself. Karane, you'll be starting with Serene today."

I gulped; despite all the progress I'd made, I still had control issues with my powers. I had a bad feeling Impa was going to be a lot more demanding than Karane was.

Karane gave me her best 'uh oh' look when we parted, lead in separate directions by Serene and Impa. Impa lead me through the crowd of milling Shiekah. Most of them stopped and stared at us, as we walked by. I tried to hide behind her as the crowd parted ; their staring was making me feel uncomfortable. When they laid eyes on me, they immediately began muttering to each other, and whispers immediately broke out across the room we passed; I caught fragments as I passed, that included the words 'Princess', 'Zelda', and 'Hylia'.

Impa groaned in frustration at her recruits inattention.

"Enough," she called. All the whispers died at once.

She threw them a threatening look; slowly one by one, they went back to training, trying their best to ignore us. Once we'd reached the other side of the room, Impa stopped at a small wooden door. She threw it open, leading me into a small stone chamber, illuminated by torches attached to the walls.

"Hardest rock you can find anywhere," Impa said as she magically sealed the door. "It can't be blown, burned, or altered. It's the prefect place for practicing your ablities."

"Uh, huh," I said, pretending to be excited.

Impa put two chairs she'd retrieved from a dark corner of the cavern in the middle of the torchlight, facing each other. She took one of them, and gestured to me to sit down, which I hesitantly did.

"Zelda," she said, dropping the Princess moniker. "Karane has told me about your ablities and Serene filled me in on your outbursts. I do need to tell you a few things before we begin. The blood of the Goddess flows in your veins, and you are the chosen of Nayru to bear her piece of the Triforce.."

"I saw Nayru in a dream once," I informed Impa, thinking it might be of some revelance.

"You did?" Impa said.

"Nayru too as well."

Impa seemed impressed.

"I've never read of a princess, or anyone for that matter, including the Princess of Destiny that has had a visitation from a Goddess, even in a dream."

"There is another thing which you must know," Impa said. "According to the very same Shiekah legend, before she passed, your ancestor, uttered a prophecy to the Impa of her age, with instructions that it be handed down to each princess within the royal bloodline.

_When the shadow of Twilli shall cloak the land of Hylia, a ancient evil will awaken._

_Greater than shadow, every kingdom it has touched has seen nothing but disaster._

_It lives in darkness, corrupting all who dare put on the mask._

_Cursed by the Gods, stripped of it's powers, it seeks revenge on the Goddess who defended her sisters'._

_In the day that he shall awaken, no soul shall be safe from corruption. Spirit of the Hero, beware of the darkness within, for only a pure heart can draw the Bane of Evil's Blade._

_Blood of the Goddess, the land's hope lies with you. Awaken the Spirit of Hylia within, and finish what she started._

"There you have it Zelda. No one is sure what it exactly means, but it could refer to our time, She paused for a minute, then resumed before I could ask anymore questions.

"So," she said. "Down to training. Karane filled me in on what you know and we must work on Farore's Wind."

"Are you kidding?" I said. "I've had no success with it until yesterday, and even that was a disaster."

"Try it again," she said with no emotion in her voice. She waved her hand and the scooted back into the dark corners of the room.

I spun on the spot and watched as green winds expanded from my core, and enveloped me. I began to move when everything went wrong. The winds blew out in all directions; I toppled to the ground only a few inches from where I'd been standing at Impa's feet.

"Impressive," she said, her hair wind-blown. "I never knew your powers were that strong. They rival or exceed those of the other Princesses of your line. Try it again."

I did. Try as I might, nothing worked. I spun, and spun, and spun, with the same result. After the fifteenth attempt (or was it the thirtieth?) Impa finally called a halt.

"Hmmmm," she said. "Something is holding you back. A barrier of some kind that's not of your creating. I'll have to preuse some texts to see what it might be. Meanwhile, let's try Din's Fire..."

Impa paused and grasped at her stomach, her eyes slamming shut, her face grimacing as a wave of pain swept over her. I rushed to her side, catching her before she could faint. I gently lowered her to the ground as her footing faltered. I did the best I could to comfort her as she shuddered as the pain radiated through her body.

"Impa, what is happening?" I muttered to myself.

Gently, I put my right arm on her back. Without ever doing this before, I let my magic leak out. Green light oozed from my hand, and into Impa. It didn't banish the pain wave, but it seemed to make them more bearable. Only when the worst of it seemed to have passed did I dare ask her any questions.

"Impa are you alright?"

"No," she said, locking eyes with me. She had a ghastly look on her face. "A Shiekah has died."

"How do you know?"

"We are all connected. Especailly me. I've train every Shiekah myself at one point or another. Shiekah share some sort of mystical connection with each other and the Royal bloodline; we can feel some of the emotions other members of our clan, and those of the Royal bloodline are experiencing. When Mordon was wiped out, every Shiekah felt it, as...you know what happened. We were nearly devestated, but we sensed that there was one last survivor. It gave us hope, especailly when Serene first laid eyes on you, she knew immediately that you were the Princess."

"Impa," said a voice behind us that made me jump.

It was Midna. She was barely visible in the low light, but you could the redness on her cheeks that showed she'd been crying heavily. She was still sobbing when she said her next few words, but they sent a dagger into my heart.

"Natalia is dead. The Hero has fallen."

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The Shiekah hideout hummed with activity after Midna's announcement. Impa called a meeting of all the top leaders of the Shiekah. As the Princess, my presence was required as well. Impa had me dress in my Princess attire, so no one would question my authority; I had to force her to allow me to bring Karane along. She deserved it after all, sticking with me for me for so long. The room we were meeting in was dimly lit, with torches attached to the walls, above our heads. A large wooden table was in the center of the room, ringed with fifteen chairs, like one of the royal boadrooms I'd seen back at Hyrule Castle. Only six of the seats were occupied; I was seated next to Impa, who was on my right. Karane was to the immediate left of me, while Serene was to Karane's left, and Shiek to Impa's right.

"I bring grave news," Impa announced. "The Hero has fallen."

This brought gasps from Serene and Shiek; neither of them had expected this.

"Midna, tell us again what happened please."

"Well, we made it to the spring of the Light Spirit Faron," Midna began. "There we found the Master Sword in the Sacred Grove. But when Link went to take, it refused to rise out of the pedestal for him. Faron observed that there was an immense darkness in Link's heart, and said that he needed to be purged of it before he could take the blade."

Midna's red eyes widened with horror as she contemplated the last part of her story.

"Then...then...then..."

"Then what?" I said.

That seemed to give her the strength to continue.

"A massive flash erupted from Link. When my eyes had cleared, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He didn't look like Link at all; instead he resembled a being that was instrumental in getting my people exiled from the land of light, a being spoken of in hatred amongst my people. He's a...a...deity."

"Diety?" everyone said in unison.

Karane and I looked at each other; judging by the look on her face, she'd never heard of such a thing. Everyone else execpt Midna had the same look of disbelief on their face. Serene spoke for all of us when she said;

"But that's impossible. No mortal can wield even so much as a fraction of what the Golden Goddesses. Only through a meduim like the Triforce can such an even take place."

"I saw what I saw," Midna said. "I may be wrong, but Link blasted me with a powerful amount of dark magic that only the most powerful of dark wizards can produce. We Twilli are a little more heavily built than Hylians and as denizens of the darkness, we know. He then murdered Natalia, the Shiekah trailing us, and his power began to destroy the woods. Faron then intervened, and drove whatever Link had become from his presence. Before he had to leave, he called himself the Fierce Deity."

No one said anything once she had finished, too shocked by her tale. Impa, Shiek, and Serene started talking in whispers amongst themselves, debating as to what this could mean.

"Have you ever heard of the Fierce Diety?" I asked, feeling a headache coming on.

"No," Karane said. "Execpt a small passage in a volume I read many years ago that dealt with the Creation of the kingdoms. It mentioned it in a list of beings that were exiled by the Goddesses, that included Demise, the first Demon King."

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah...Zelda, are you alright?" Karane said.

"No," I said, gripping my head as the pain intensified. "I..."

It subsided for a second, then hit again with full force. I collapsed to the ground, toppling off my chair, landing with a thud. It became all consuming, so that I lost all since of being, of time, too consumed with the pain.

_ I was standing in the middle of a dark and dreary expanse of what was once a great city. The magificant buildings that had once stood when our army arrived had all been consumed by fire; nothing was left execpt their blackened and charred foundations. The kingdom of Ikana, a country founded to humailate and to destroy my Sisters, had been utterly destroyed, fulfilling the curse they placed upon it. _

_ Tears flowed down my cheeks for those of my people who'd been foolish enough to challenge me and my Sister's authority; together they had help found and guide this rogue state, who's only reason of existence was to challenge my Sisters' authority. The Deity responsible was standing before, stripped of all power, his city and kingdom destroyed, his dreams unfufilled, our archmortal enemy, the Fierce Deity. _

_"Wretched Goddess," it cursed, using the phrase that had become the people of Ikana's watchword. "The blood of my people lies on your hands. I will return to avenge..." _

_"No you won't," I declared in a authoritian voice. "I won't allow it. I hoped the destruction you brought on your kingdom would teach you a lesson. But I was wrong. I prounounce my judgement..."_

_ I raised my hand and golden light encircled the being. Slowly it shrank until it was nothing but a mask, it's few remaining powers contained within._

_"I pity any mortal who'll be foolish enough to pick you up," I said. _

_ I gave the mask a kick and watched it vanish into the darkness..._

I came to, breaking out of the vision, sweat beading upon my forehead, and breathing like I'd just ran a thousand yards. Serene and Karane had knelt beside me, during my sojourn into vision land, pressing cooling pads to my head, and wiping the sweat from my forehead. I whimpered as the vision replayed itself in my head, the full impact of what it had shown hitting me all I once. _An entire kingdom in ruins, how many people... _

"Did you see something, Princess?" Impa asked, after I'd had a few minutes to calm down.

"Hylia defeated the Fierce Deity," I said. "It vowed revenge. She then converted it into a mask, then banished it."

"Somehow Link's been taken over by the Fierce Deity," Shiek said. "That's the only conclusion I can see. The Hero of Time told of what had happened with the being Majora during his sojourn in the land of Terminia."

"Voluntarily, or by force is the question," Impa said. "Either way, it complicates things. We need the Hero to fulfill his role to drive away the darkness. The blood of the Goddess and the Hero are closely bound together. Neither one can do it without the other."

"I'm sure it was voluntary," Midna said. "I saw him pull it out of his pack and put it on his face."

"So, what do we do?" I prodded.

"Maybe we should go see Lanayru," Karane offered.

"Pray to the Goddesses?" Serene suggested.

"How about think about the prophecy," Impa interupted.

"What prophecy?" Serene asked.

Impa recited the prophecy she had just told me a little over an hour ago. She looked so grave, that it made her look much older than she actually is.

"So, you think it's coming to pass," I guessed, still lying on the floor.

"Sadly, yes," Impa said. "That still leaves us short. We have two known enemies; Cloakman (Karane whispered "Malon would be proud" in my ear), and now the Fierce Deity. Against them, the only one who can possibly match them in power is (Impa gestured at me) the Princess."

"Great," I groaned, putting my hands in my head. I was already under a great burden and strian; why do I need to bear more?

"So, what should we do?" Shiek prodded.

"Well," Impa said. "First, close all the Shiekah hideouts that Link has visited. We can't risk him wrecking more havoc amongst our ranks. Second, I think we must delay some of our immediate plans and shift emphasis to the Fierce Deity. Cloakman only wants to rule, it seems our new friend wants only to destroy. And third, we must awaken the Sages. They can lend power to us, and the Princess to give us a better chance at defeating this unpredecented threat. Princess, what do you think?"

I thought it over and prayed that something would come, but nothing did. Nayru remained silent this time.

"I think that's a good plan," I said, eager to get this over with. "But we'll need all the help we can get. Can you bring Malon and Avalon into this? They could be of some help."

"Of course," Impa said. "Rauru the Priest informed me they have roles to play in this as well. It's settled. Shiek, go close the hideouts. Serene, send runners thoroughout the countryside to keep an eye out for this Fierce Deity. That's it, if anyone else has anything else to add?"

No one said anything.

"Good, meeting adjourned, we'll reconvene in the morning," Impa said.

Serene and Shiek jumped to their feet and left the room at top speed.

"Princess," Impa said. "As murky as the clouds are now, it seems that at least part of the job of the Hero has fallen to you. I think both you and Karane should go and visit Lanayru again. The Light Spirit might have more information for you on what your quest will be."

I looked at Karane, who just shrugged her shoulders at me.

"Gather your things and prepare to leave at once," she said. "Have hope. It's still possible Link isn't doing this by choice."

I turned away and looked at the wall wondering how it could get so much worse than it already is. The only thing that keeps me going is that those I love are in danger. I've lost so much, and I can't lose anymore.

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(Out of Zelda's POV)

The wind blew softly around the caped figure as he stood atop a large volcano, overlooking the land of Hyrule and Castle Town. All around him, the dark storm clouds that had overtaken Hyrule from the Twilight were still visible, execpt for a small portion over the province of Lanayru and Faron. The figure looked like Link, execpt that his forest green tunic, sandy-blonde hair, and misty blue eyes were all gone. His skin and hair had turned a dark black, his eyes had become white slits, his signature forest green tunic had been replaced by sinister black armor, and he had black paladins on his arms.

The Master Sword was nowhere to be seen. In it's place, strapped to his back, was a double-bladed, helix shaped sword. The Fierce Deity surveyed the scene with pleasure. His job was going to be easier than ever. Hyrule was already subjected by the forces of evil, all he needed to do was set it afire and his revenge would be complete. He leapt up high into the air and vanished into the darkness. But he was anware, that someone was watching.

Back, near the Spring of Faron, a blue orb appeared from the Master Sword, rising into the air. It unfolded into a blue-purple spirit girl, who had been asleep for millenia. She zipped through the woods, and stopped behind the caped figure, watching as the Fierce Deity vanished into the darkness.

"Master, what have you done?" Fi said to no one in particular.


End file.
